The Secrets That We Keep
by ClosetWriter313
Summary: Mikan and her friends have all lost touch ever since graduation. That is, until a murder brings them together once more. Will they catch up to the murderer, and more importantly, will their secrets catch up to them?
1. Chapter 1: The Mysterious Message

It was a sunny afternoon in Alice Academy, and all the students were itching to go out and play. It's three twenty-nine. Just one more minute until the bell rings.

30 seconds…

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

"Okay, class is dismissed!" Mikan said with a smile, and the students packed their stuff and headed out the classroom. As the class started leaving, Mikan started gathering her things as well. She waited for all of her students to leave before she went out and closed the door.

She walked in the hallway, as students greeted her while she passed and of course she greeted them back. She was about to enter the faculty room when a gush of wind flew a handful of her papers off her hands.

_Those were important papers!_

Mikan sighed and began chasing after them. A few minutes had passed before the papers finally landed on the ground. Fortunately all of them landed on the same spot. She gathered all the papers and was about to head back when she noticed where she was standing, right in front of the Sakura tree, the same tree that held dear memories from her childhood. It was _the_ Sakura tree from long ago.

"Wow. I haven't been here in a long time." Mikan said to no one in particular.

This place was where she would hang out with her friends, and especially: Hotaru, Ruka and of course, Natsume. It had been years since she last saw any of them, and yet she could still remember the last day they were all gathered together under this tree as if it were yesterday.

…

_It was graduation day. Ruka, Hotaru and Mikan were standing under the Sakura tree…_

_"I can't believe we finally graduated!" Mikan exclaimed happily, stretching her arms up. "School's finally over! No more studying! Yay!" Then she started running to Hotaru, wanting to give her a big hug "Hotaru!"_

_BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!_

_"Ouch! Hotaru that really hurts!" Mikan rubbed her hands to her forehead which was now very red._

_"That's what you get for being too noisy." Hotaru said with her signature expressionless voice. Even though years have passed Hotaru was still the same Hotaru in elementary school, which means she still uses her famous baka gun, especially on Mikan. "Be thankful I only used the baka gun and not the baka missile."_

_"Anyway, so, what are you going to do after you leave the academy Hotaru?" Mikan asked gleefully. _

_"I'm going to start my own company, sell and earn billions." She said and her eyes started glimmering with dollar signs._

_"What about you Ruka-pyon?" Mikan asked._

_"I'm not sure. Maybe I'll be vet or something." He replied. _

_Ruka smiled more and more nowadays ever since he knew Natsume is safe from harm. The evil organizations, Persona, and the elementary principle were defeated, and now Alice Academy was safe. Parents were now allowed to visit the school, but only during the weekends and holidays. The students were also allowed to leave during vacations, which was fantastic since it meant Mikan could visit her grandpa again. Although some things never change, Ruka still carries around a rabbit like always and Hotaru still sold pictures of him._

_"What about you Natsume?" Mikan asked, and then turned around to find that Natsume wasn't there, "Where's Natsume?"_

_"I think he's still being chased by his fan club." Hotaru answered, "Oh, there he is." She pointed to her right, and Natsume was there running away from his fan club._

_"Natsume's fan club seems to be more energetic than usual." Mikan commented._

_"That's because they're trying to get his Alice pin." Hotaru said._

_"Alice pin?" _

_"You see Mikan," Ruka said, "There's a legend that says that during every graduation, if a girl gets the Alice pin of the guy she likes, then they would end up together forever. So his fan club is chasing him, hoping to get his Alice pin."_

_"Oh… what about you Ruka-pyon? Why aren't YOU being chased by your fan club?"_

_"Well, that's because someone already took my Alice pin."_

_"Who? Who?" Ruka looked to his side, signaling that Hotaru had his pin. "Hotaru, you took his pin?" Mikan asked surprisingly, "So, does that mean you guys are going out?" Mikan had on a huge smile as she said that. She loved teasing Ruka and Hotary together._

_BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!_

_"Hotaru!" Mikan complained._

_"You shouldn't be nosey, baka." Hotaru said._

_"Natsume! Give me your pin!" Mikan heard one of the fangirls scream._

_"No, give it to me!" Said another one._

_"Shouldn't we help him?" Ruka asked, but before anyone could reply, Natsume used his Fire Alice and all the girls started running away. Natsume started walking towards Mikan and the others. Mikan noticed that his unbuttoned outer polo long-sleeved shirt was kind of torn. Good thing he was wearing a shirt inside._

_"Are you okay Natsume?" Ruka asked the second he reached the Sakura tree._

_"Damn girls." He muttered while he sat down panting._

_"Hey Hotaru, what're you doing?" Mikan asked Hotaru, who was on the other end of the tree. Hotaru starts showing Mikan pictures of Natsume being chased by his fan club. "Wow! They're so nice and clear, considering that they were all running" Then Hotaru starts scanning the rest of the pictures. "Wow! There's a picture of Ruka-pyon too!"_

_"Me?" Ruka asked, and walked to Hotaru, who was already printing the pictures. As usual, Hotaru's eyes were shimmering with dollar signs._

_"Hey give me those!" Ruka demanded and reached for the pictures. Hotaru hopped on to her flying swan machine, with the pictures in hand, and started flying away from Ruka._

_"Hey! Come back here!"Ruka shouted, and chased after Hotaru using the horse that he called using his Alice. _

_Now, Natsume and Mikan were left alone. She sat next to him under the tree and looked at him. Natsume didn't really change. He was still the same quiet, annoying persone that Mikan met back in Elementary school. Even though he would smile and laugh more often now, he still had that aura of darkness surrounding him_

_"Oy, polka, would you stop staring." Natsume said. Mikan didn't notice that she was still looking at him._

_"Natsume? Would you stop calling me that?" She shouted at him. "Even until graduation you still call me with that annoying nickname you pervert!"_

_"Would you stop screaming? You're making my ears bleed."_

_"Sorry… oh, yeah I almost forgot, what're you going to do after we leave the academy, Natsume?"_

_"…." He looked down and avoided Mikan's eyes._

_"Natsume…"_

_"It's none of your business anyway polka." His eyes were still looking down._

_"Polka? Natsume, how come you never call me by my real name? Well, maybe except that one time, but other than that, you always call me polka. My name's not that hard to pronounce. Hmph." She said and she looked to the opposite direction._

_"Mikan" He said softly, and Mikan slowly turned her head around to look at him util they were both looking directly at each other._

_"Natsume…" Their faces were so near each other that they could feel the other person's breath. They were moving closer and closer, their lips almost touching._

_"Yo! Mikan, there you are!" Tsubasa yelled from a few feet away. As soon as they heard Tsubasa's voice, they both separated as far as possible from each other, and looked at opposite directions. "Hey Mikan, long time no see! Uh, did I interrupt something?"_

_"Tsubasa-senpai I missed you!" Mikan stood up, ran to him and gave him a hug. She avoided the question entirely. Then she saw Misaki over Tsubasa's shoulder walking towards them. "Misaki-senpai!" She stopped hugging Tsubasa-senpai and ran to Misaki-senpai to hug her. "I missed you as well!"_

_"I missed you too Mikan." Misaki-senpai said, returning Mikan's hug._

_"How's Toshiu?" Mikan asked._

_Misaki and Tsubasa started dating on their senior year and got married a few years after their graduation. Mikan was even the one of the bride's maids of their wedding and Toshiu is their two year-old son._

_"He's playing with Narumi-sensei. You know how Narumi-sensei gets along with kids" Misaki answered._

_"That's because he acts like one." Natsume said. Mikan had completely forgotten that Natsume was still there._

_"Natsume, I see that you're still the same as ever." Tsubasa said and then ruffled Natsume's hair._

_"Get your and off me or I'll burn you into a crisp." Natsume said with a serious tone, and Tsubasa-senpai immediately let go of Natsume. Natsume then started walking away._

_"Hey Natsume where are you going?" Mikan yelled _

_"None of your business polka."_

_"DON'T CALL ME POLKA!"_

_A few hours later, it was the time for all the graduates to leave the academy. All graduates were given an amount of money to start their lives, and the rabbits that they saved were turned to real money. Everyone was gathered at the front gate as they said their goodbyes to each other. Even the teachers and principals were there to say their goodbyes. Suddenly, a black limo stopped at the gate and everyone stared at it, wondering who owned it._

_"Well that's my car." Hotaru said calmly._

_"That's your car Hotaru?" Mikan exclaimed._

_"Hotaru you really are quite amazing!" Anna said._

_"I'm going to miss you Hotaru." Mikan said and then she started tearing up. She hugged Hotaru and Hotaru hugged her back. This was one of the rare moments where in Hotaru doesn't use her baka gun. "Promise me that we'll keep in touch okay?"_

_"I promise." Hotaru said and Mikan's tears kept on pouring. "Baka, stop crying will you. You look even uglier when you cry." _

_Those were Hotaru's last few words to Mikan just before she went inside her car. The black limo started moving and before you knew it, the car was out of sight. It was replaced by a shiny silver blue limo._

I wonder who owns this one.

_Then Mikan suddenly saw Ruka and Natsume walking to the car with their luggage being carried by some men in uniform._

_"Ruka-pyon this is your car?" Mikan asked in amazement._

_"Yeah… Well technically it's my mom's." Ruka replied._

_"Promise me you'll keep in touch okay? I don't want to lose contact with you, Ruka-pyon." Mikan said. Ruka blushed a little._

_"Yeah I will." Ruka said. _

_Mikan hugged him and Ruka was caught off guard, and blushed even more. After a while he hugged her in return, then he went to his parents and started talking to them. Mikan walked over to Natsume._

_"Hey Natsume, promise to keep in touch too 'kay?" Mikan said with a smile. He just looked at her with that face of his._

_"Hn" _

_Mikan couldn't help but hug him. Even though he was annoying and always teased her, she was still going to miss him. Surprisingly, he hugged her back, but only for a brief amount of time. Then both Ruka and Natsume headed for the limo._

_"Bye Mikan!" Ruka said before entering the car._

_"Bye Ruka-pyon!" Mikan replied, waving at him._

_"Bye, Mikan" Natsume said softly, but loud enough for Mikan to hear, and then he tossed something to Mikan, which she caught easily. He entered the car without even looking back. Mikan just stared at the silver blue limo as it drove out of sight._

Did… did Natsume just call me Mikan?

_Mikan looked at what Natsume tossed at her. It was an alice pin. His Alice pin._

_That was the last time she saw Natsume._

….

At first Hotaru and Mikan tried to stay in touch, and for a while they did. Then they both started getting busy until their daily calls became weekly, then monthly, and eventually it just stopped. Ruka would send Mikan some e-mails and postcards once in a while, but she never saw him in person. As for the famous black cat, Natsume Hyuuga, she hasn't heard anything from him except when he's sometimes mentioned in Ruka's letters, and even the mention of his name faded away after the first year. Mikan hasn't even thought of Natsume in a long time.

A few years after graduation, Mikan decided to teach in Alice Academy. During her first few years of teaching, she would walk by this tree and remember all her friends, but after a while her classes were too far from this place and she was just too busy to stop by. Sometimes she would accidentally see Natsume's Alice pin when she looked for jewelry, and she remembered him; but other than that she wouldn't think of him nor Ruka, not even Hotaru. I guess you can say, they just all drifted apart.

…

The next day, Mikan was walking in the hallway, carrying a stack of papers with her left hand and a cup of coffee with her right. It was a perfectly normal morning. Not a lot of people are awake at this time so it was pretty quiet. She walked into the faculty room when her phone started beeping. She placed her things on her table and opened her phone.

1 NEW TEXT MESSAGE

She opened it and it was a blank message. She looked at the caller ID and it was an unknown number. Then suddenly her phone started beeping again and messages simultaneously came and they were all coming from the same number

_BEEP! BEEP!_

Mikan

_BEEP! BEEP!_

MIKAN

_BEEP! BEEP!_

Notice someone missing?

_BEEP! BEEP!_

Guess what?

_BEEP! BEEP!_

YOUR FRIEND IS DEAD

_BEEP! BEEP!_

And ALL your loved ones will follow

_BEEP! BEEP!_

Unless…..

And that was the last of it. There were no following messages. Mikan kept telling herself that it was probably just a prank, but she had a gut feeling that this guy was serious. She tried to forget the weird messages and started reading her lesson plan.

"Hey, did you hear what happened in the news last night?" Mikan overheard a male teacher ask his friend.

"Yeah I did. I feel sorry for the family." His friend said.

Mikan wondered what happened in the news. She wasn't able to watch because she was teaching the DA class on how to control their temper, and that took all night.

"Did you hear about what happened to Anna?" A female teacher asked her two friends.

Once Mikan heard "Anna", she suddenly thought of Anna from Elementary School, which was weird since…

_Nah, it couldn't have been her. Anna is a common name. Maybe it's just a coincidence._

"I feel sorry for her." One of her friends said.

"I feel sorry for the child. She must be crying right now." Her other friend said.

_No it couldn't be the same Anna. _Mikan said to herself.

"Kazame doesn't want to leave her room or let anyone in there. She's been crying and sobbing." Mikan heard someone say.

"What do you expect? Her mother died." The other teacher said.

As soon as Mikan heard those words, her body felt numb and she dropped her papers, then it scattered on the floor.

_So it is the same Anna! I have to go to Kazame. _

Mikan ran to the dormitory where Kazame, Anna's daughter, was staying, forgetting about everything else. Once she reached Kazame's door, she tried opening it, but it was lock.

"Kazame open up, it's me Mikan." Mikan said and tried knocking again but still there was no answer. "Please Kazame, open the door. I just want to comfort you." Finally the little girl opened the door and her eyes were all puffy and full of tears.

"Sakura-sensei!" She said as hugged Mikan, while her tears kept on flowing.

"Its okay, it's okay. I promise to find out who did this to your mom." Mikan told her, "I swear it"

Mikan stayed in Kazame's room and comforted her in every way she could. She told her to take the whole week off in class and just rest first. Kazame's friends came to her room right after their class was done and tried comforting her as well. Mikan looked at them and then left the room because she knew they would be able to comfort Kazame. Mikan walked straight to the high-school principal's office where she knew she would find her uncle, the principal. When she reached the door she knocked on the door three times.

"Come in" He said and Mikan entered the room.

"Mikan, what brings you here?" Her uncle asked.

"What happened to her?" Mikan asked seriously

"Oh Anna, well, she's as you probably know dead."

"Did she die, or was she killed?"

"Well, she was… murdered."

"Who would want to murder Anna?"

"Well, regarding that. There have been some rumors going around that _they_ are back. We investigated on it and there is no confirmation yet whether they are still alive or not. There have been some hints but there was no evidence. But sad to say, I think they're alive and are the ones who killed Anna."

"How did she die?"

"The cause of death was definitely unusual. Her body was found in a warehouse by a worker there and of course since she's a former Alice student, we investigated the crime scene. Other than a few bruises and minor injuries there were no other traces of injuries. The weird thing is, when her dead body was inspected there was a hole in her chest where the heart is located. And the hole had no burn marks so it wasn't by gunshot, and tests showed that the hole wasn't made using any material known to man. Her heart was also not there, in both the body and the entire warehouse."

"So there's no heart."

"Yes and no. A fisherman in Korea found a heart while he was fishing and tests confirm that it is indeed Anna's heart, but it's impossible for the heart to be in Korea unless you have the transportation Alice. How else could they have transported a heart all the way to Korea?"

"But why would they separate the heart from the rest of the body?"

"That is yet to be determined."

"Where is Anna's body now?"

"Her body is still being inspected for further information, and hopefully we'll figure out how she died and why they decided to cast away the heart."

"Where is her body being inspected?"

"In the Alice Biology Center just a couple of blocks away from here."

"I'm going go to there."

"Okay, but be careful. If they are back then—"

"They are back. I received these messages simultaneously just this morning and they mentioned Anna being dead and how she's not the only person they intend to kill."

"May I see these messages?" Mikan's uncle said and scanned through Mikan's inbox messages. "Where's the message after this message that says 'unless'?"

"That's just it. There was none."

"I see."

"Well I guess I'll be going to the Biology Center today. I'll use the car. I just need to prepare some stuff. Can you find a sub for me?"

"Sure Mikan"

"Oh, and I told Kazame to not go to classes for a week. Is that okay?" Mikan asked just before reaching for the doorknob.

"Of course" He said and Mikan left to go straight to her room.

Once she entered the room, she walked to her closet and changed her clothes. She wore a lavender-colored shirt with the sleeves reaching until her elbow and was buttoned from top to bottom in the middle, simple denim jeans, sepia knee-high boots, the flat kind and she tucked her jeans inside the boots, a thin brown belt and a black trench coat. She grabbed her bag and stuffed it with things that she might need and grabbed her car keys that were on next to my jewelry box. Then she went straight to her car and drove to the Alice Biology Center. After a few minutes, she arrived. She parked her car, and walked inside the building, straight to the director.

"Why hello Mikan, how may I help you." The director said. He was an old friend of the high school principal, and since Mikan's the one who now does missions for the Academy, as well as other things, she gets to see him often.

"I'm here to see Anna's body." She said bluntly.

"Ah, I see." He said and led her to a room. "We already did an autopsy of her body but other than the obvious cause of death due to someone taking the heart, nothing yet had been found.

"Well maybe I'll find something."

"Ah yes, you always seem to find something that even our top doctors can't. Okay, here it is." He said and a security guard was guarding the door. "She is here to see Anna's body too."

"Too?" Mikan asked, "Someone else was here to see her body?"

"Yes and they're probably still inside." The director said.

Mikan was curious as to who they were. Anna's family, except for Kazame, were all in America. The director led Mikan inside and to her surprise, two people were inside: One was a woman with an expressionless face and short black hair, while the other had blond hair and was carrying a rabbit.

"Hotaru? Ruka?" Mikan asked. It was surprising how both of them were there.

"Ah, I see you know these two. Well, I should be going now." The director said.

"Yes. Thank you Director." Mikan replied and he walked out the door.

"OH MY GOSH! HOTARU AND RUKA WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Mikan said a little too loudly.

BAKA!

"That's what you get for being too noisy polka." A man in the shadows said.

_Polka? No one calls me that except…_

Mikan looked at the man closely and indeed it was him. Natsume Hyuuga.

_Natsume, Hotaru and Ruka? What are they doing here? What the heck is going on?_


	2. Chapter 2: Fly on the Wall

"Would you close your mouth?" Hotaru said with her expressionless face, "You're going attract flies, baka."

Mikan didn't even notice that her mouth was wide open. She closed it immediately, but continued to stare at them. They still looked the same except that they grew taller and had a more mature look. Mikan still couldn't believe that they were there.

"How long to you intend to stare at us, polka?" Natsume said, a little bit irritated.

"What are you guys doing here?" Mikan asked

"I came here because of Anna. You see, I received multiple text messages and one of them said something about a friend being dead. So, when I heard about Anna's death I went straight here to investigate." Ruka explained

"I got the same messages too." Hotaru said

"Me too" Natsume added

"I got those too." Mikan said, as she walked towards them and looked at the sheet covering Anna's body, "Who could've done such a thing?"

Mikan then walked to the cabinets and took out a kit. She went back to the body and slowly removed the white sheet. She looked at the body from top to bottom without touching it yet. The room was silent. Mikan noticed the big mark where the killer took Anna's heart. This obviously was the cause of death but other than that there were no other bruises or injuries. There was no sign of a complete struggle.

"The mark on her body is weird; it's too big to be a stabbing and the shape is a mark I haven't seen before. This was definitely not done by a normal person." Mikan said as she clenched her fists hard.

_Whoever did this will pay. I will make sure Anna's murder is brought to justice._

Mikan did all the necessary tests, and by the time she was done, it was already the afternoon.

"Where did you learn how to do that Mikan?" Ruka asked.

"Well long story short, I do missions for the academy now, as well as investigating Alice related cases, and so I learned how to do this." Mikan explained. "Now I just need to research on this mark."

"You can do that in my house. I have a library with every book ever published." Hotaru said

"Okay, and we can catch up at the same time." Mikan said smiling, "Will you join us Ruka and Natsume?"

"Hn. Whatever" Natsume said

"Okay, I'll go" Ruka answered.

They all drove to Hotaru's place, which is kinda far from the Biology Center. As soon as they reached Hotaru's hourse, Mikan was so amazed at how big it was. Natsume was predictably not paying attention and Ruka, well he didn't seem all that shocked. They all headed to the balcony first to have something to eat. Mikan sat next to Hotaru, and Ruka sat next to Natsume. The sun was almost setting and the been view was amazing.

"So Hotaru, how have you since graduation?" Mikan asked

"After graduation I went straight to selling my inventions and with all the money I made, I bought this house and a lab. Then I created a big company instead of selling my inventions to other companies. I became a rich entrepreneur and is living now in Japan." Hotaru said as if it were a speech.

"That's the exact thing written in the young entrepreneur's magazine." Mikan pointed out.

"So?" Hotaru asked. Mikan just sighed. She wouldn't want to get hit by that baka gun again, "What about you Ruka?"

"Well, I… the first few years after Alice academy, I stayed with Natsume and helped him as much as I could, but after a while we uh, separated and I got a job as a vet. Then, I built my own animal hospital somewhere in Kyoto. It's also an animal center where people can buy or donate pets." Ruka answered.

"Wow! That's amazing." Mikan said, but there was something odd. Ruka and Natsume didn't look as close as they had been during High School. "What about you Natsume?"

"Hn. None of your business." Natsume replied. "I've been traveling around that's all."

Mikan knew there was more to the story, but knowing Natsume, he would never say it.

"What about you Mikan?" Ruka asked.

"Uhm, me? Well, let's see… After graduation I became a pre-school teacher in Thailand, then after a few years my uncle gave me a job in the academy, so I flew back here to teach alice students. I also teach the DA students in mastering their alices and preventing them from harming other students using my nullification. I also do missions for the academy, instead of the students doing it. Apparently, the school has a lot of enemies and I make sure to put a stop to it. It's much better than letting the students do it. I also copied every Alice in the school so now I have every alice known to the academy. I also studied medicine with my uncle's colleague so that I can help in strange cases that involve people with Alice, like Anna's death." Mikan said

"Baka, do you know how dangerous that is?" Hotaru said

"Don't worry. I don't overuse my Alice, so it'll be fine." Mikan replied, and then Robot Mikan arrived.

"Miss Hotaru, here are the results from the test." Robot Mikan said.

"Test? What test?" Mikan asked curiously.

"I did a scan on Anna's body right before you came in." Hotaru explained.

"Ohhh" Mikan said, "Can I see it?"

"Why not" Hotaru handed her the papers and Mikan started reading them.

"Did you find anything that'll help?" Ruka asked.

"Nope, even the results of the tests are odd. I need more research." Mikan replied.

"Well then, let's go to the library." Hotaru said and then she stood up to lead the way to the library. The library was HUGE! Hotaru wasn't kidding when she said she had every book in the world, but then, Hotaru never kids.

"We can start from here. This machine will help you find a book. Just type in a keyword or phrase and the robot will get the book you need."

They started researching, and in just a few minutes the tables were stacked with plenty of books, but they found nothing yet that could help them figure out what the mark on Anna's body means. Mikan checked her watch. It was already two in the evening.

"I have to go. I have classes tomorrow. See yah Hotaru!" Mikan said and gave Hotaru a hug.

"I better get some sleep too." Hotaru said.

"I should go too." Ruka said

"Yeah, whatever." Natsume said

They walked to the gate except for Hotaru who went straight to her room saying she didn't wanna look ugly tomorrow so Robot Mikan escorted them out.

"Bye Miss Mikan, Sir. Ruka and Natsume" Robot Mikan said as she waved goodbye from the gate.

"So where are you staying Ruka?" Mikan asked while they were walking to their cars.

"I'm just staying in a hotel down by the beach." Ruka replied.

"Oh, I know that one. I've been there before. It's really nice!" Mikan said.

Ruka entered his car and said his goodbyes. Now, Natsume and Mikan were left together.

"What about you Natsume? Where are you staying?" Mikan asked

"Why should I tell you?" Natsume replied.

"Fine! Why should I care?" Mikan mumbled and entered her car. Natsume, on the other hand, kept walking. Just then Mikan remembered that Natsume didn't bring a car. He drove with Ruka on the way here. She looked back to where Natsume was and thought of offering him a ride, but he wasn't there anymore. Mikan drove back to the Academy and headed to her room. When she opened the door her uncle was there sitting on the chair, waiting for her.

"What do you want uncle?" Mikan asked and then gave off a yawn.

"You came home late." He noted, "Did you find anything about Anna's strange death?"

"Nope, still a mystery. Is that why you came here?"

"Well… no; I'm afraid you have another mission."

"Oh. Where to this time?"

"I'll tell you more about it tomorrow. For now, you should get some rest." He said and left the room. As soon as he was gone, Mikan changed her clothes and went straight to sleep.

…

The next day Mikan woke up due to a loud alarm.

_Ring!_

Mikan hit the alarm clock as hard as she could but it still didn't stop

_Ring! Ring!_

She couldn't stand the noise anymore. She still wanted to sleep so she blasted it with a fire ball.

_Ring! Ring!_

Mikan knew her efforts to stop the ringing was futile so she got out of bed.

_Stupid alarm, why did I have to get that indestructible alarm clock?_

She headed to the shower like a zombie and immediately woke up when the freezing cold water touched her skin. She used her fire Alice to warm it up a little, and by that time she was already wide-awake. She wore a pink sleeve-less shirt with a green short-sleeve overtop, skinny jeans, and pink heels. She opened the window and noticed how cold it was outside so she took out a black jacket out from her closet, wore it and started walking. She walked to the same old Sakura tree that she used to chill in.

_Now that I noticed, the day I went here again was the day I saw the old gang. Gosh, I miss this place! I almost forgot how nice the view is from here._

"What are doing here Natsume?" Mikan asked. She knew that he was sitting on the branch of the Sakura tree. She used her teleportation Alice and teleported right next to him.

"So you knew I was here all along huh?" Natsume asked.

"Yup" Mikan answered and smiled at him. It had been a long time since she saw Natsume sitting on this Sakura tree, and yet she could still remember exactly what he looked like, and which branch he would sit on. Mikan never really did get over Natsume, even if she tells herself she did.

_Sigh, pathetic. Natsume will never like me especially now that I work in the school that almost killed him,_

"So what are you doing here?" Mikan asked trying to make a conversation with him.

"Just hanging around, got a problem with that polka?" He said.

"Would you stop calling me polka? It's been years since that day." She pouted at him and as usual he remained there, emotionless. She swears, he's kinda like Hotaru in a way.

"Hn."

"Hey Sakura-senpai, what are you doing up there?" Nina said. She was a girl in the DA and she's in the third grade. She's in the DA because she can't control her Alice that well.

"Who's that next to you, your boyfriend?" A black haired boy teased. He was also in the DA class. His name is Ryuichi and he's a junior. He's arrogant, annoying, never shows his emotion. Come to think of it, he's kinda like Natsume.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Mikan told him. Mikan and her students talk as if they're friends. That's how close she is to her students, but of course there's still that aura of respect. In fact, Mikan hates it when they talk to her like a teacher.

"Then who is he Sakura-senpai?" Nina asked

"He…he's…He's my friend Natsume and he is going to help me teach class today." Mikan said and flashed a smile at them.

"What?" Natsume said and looked at Mikan like he was going to hit her at any moment, "No way."

"Please join Sakura-senpai, Natsume-senpai." Kiyoshi said. He was also a DA student and was just in the first grade. He reminded Natsume of Yuichi, and so he agreed to help out. They all walked to the DA classroom and everyone sat down. Everything went fine during the class. Even Natsume taught the students some fighting styles and Mikan thought she saw him smile. Things were going great until someone asked a question.

"Eh, Sakura-senpai, why does Natsume-senpai call you polka?" A student asked.

"Well that's because hmpth…" Mikan covered his mouth even before he could answer the question. Everybody looked confused, but I just couldn't afford him telling that story. She finally let go of him and gave Natsume a death glare.

"Why are you like that honey?" Natsume said and grinned at Mikan.

"Eh… HONEY!" The entire class said in chorus.

"Are you a couple?" A student said.

"I didn't know Sakura-senpai had a boyfriend!" Another student said.

"No, it's not what you guys think! He's not my boyfriend!" Mikan said, but they wouldn't believe her no matter how hard she tried. She glared at Natsume who only stood at the corner looking very amused.

_Arghh! Natsume's gonna pay for this!_

After a long debate with her students, classes finally ended and Natsume and Mikan were walking in the hallway.

"Eh Natsume, why did you have to say that to the class huh?" Mikan asked him as they were walking through the hallway.

"Just felt like it." He simply said.

Mikan sighed. There was no point arguing with him. They kept on walking in the hallway when a phone rang:

_(Faces by Rides Again)_

_Faces! So many faces!_

_In faraway places_

_But I feel alone, whoa-o-o-o-o_

_Changes! You promised me changes_

_Becoming of ages _

_But I'm still alone, whoa-o-o-o-o_

I took out my phone and opened my message.

"Eh, what's with that ring tone?" Natsume asked before she could even read her message.

"It's not a ring tone; it's a message alert tone. There's a difference." Mikan pointed out, "And it's to tell me who sent the message. Like this one, it's a mission and the song is like that because it reminds me to not trust anyone so easily. People put on different faces and even if sometimes you think you can read it, it changes completely." The last part wasn't exactly about taking missions. It was about… well, you know who.

"That's weird." He said

"It's just a stupid message alert tone." Mikan mumbled, as she looked at the message on her phone:

_Mikan,_

_Go to the old abandoned JEC warehouse in Chiba. There is a microchip there that contains names and their respective Alices. It was made by a person with an Alice like mine and you must get it before anyone else sees what's inside it. There are a few guards outside and a security system inside so be careful._

"So you're going to a mission, eh?" Natsume asked. Mikan finally noticed that he was leaning and could easily read what was on her phone.

"Yeah"

"Mind if I join?"

"Are you sure…but your Alice?"

"One mission is not going to kill me."

_Sigh_ "Fine"

Mikan teleported Natsume and herself to Hotaru's house and found that Ruka was already there, sitting with Hotaru inside the library. Mikan and Natsume joined them in researching about the mysterious symbol. A few hours later, Mikan's phone started vibrating. She opened her phone and saw her memo about doing the mission. She got up and grabbed her bag. Ruka noticed Mikan grabbing her bag.

"Where are you going Mikan?" Ruka asked

"I have to go. I have a mission to do." Mikan answered and they all looked at her. Hotaru stood up and walked over to Mikan. She placed her hand on Mikan's shoulder and gave a nod.

"Be careful, Mikan." Hotaru said

"I will"

Mikan was about to transport herself when someone grabbed her arm. She stopped and stared at the person who grabbed it. It was Natsume.

"I'm going with you, remember?" Natsume said, still not letting go of Mikan's arm.

"Natsume that's dangerous. Your Alice-" Ruka said but was interrupted by Natsume.

"I can take care of myself. And plus, it's just one mission."

Ruka gave up and just gave him a smile.

"Be careful, Natsume. You too, Mikan." Ruka said.

"I will. So, ready Natsume?" Mikan asked.

"Let's go" Natsume said and Mikan transported them to where the mission was. Once they reached their destination, Natsume looked around and then looked at Mikan.

"This is your room, polka. What are we doing here?"

"I have to drop off my bag and change. I can't go on a mission wearing this. You should change too."

"I'm fine with what I'm wearing."

"Fine, but I need to change, so I'll just take a quick trip to the bathroom." Mikan said and walked to the bathroom, "And don't you dare peek!" She gave him a glare that would make anyone scared.

"Whatever. There's nothing to see anyway. Your body still looks like a ten year old's." He said mockingly.

"Why you-" Mikan yelled and closed the bathroom door hard.

She walked out a few minutes later wearing black pants, flat boots, a sandy brown sleeve-less shirt and a denim jacket. She walked out the door and Natsume followed her. They walked into a room filled with glass cabinets filled with Alice stones. Natsume just walked around saying nothing. Mikan opened one of the glass cabinets and took out two Alice stones. She held them up for Natsume to see.

"What're those?"

"They're Alice stones, duh."

"I mean what're they for?"

"It's for you. This is a teleportation stone and a healing stone in case something happens."

Mikan handed the stones over to him and he took it and placed them around his neck. She held his hand and transported them to the warehouse.

Mikan felt a jolt of electricity when she held Natsume's hand. It was the same feeling she would always have when she was with him. She didn't want to admit that she felt anything. She didn't want old feelings resurfacing once more. More importantly, she didn't want her heart broken again.

Once they were teleported to the warehouse, Mikan immediately removed her hand from his. She walked into the warehouse and Natsume followed.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Natsume asked.

"A small chip." Mikan replied as they kept walking.

Mikan used her x-ray vision Alice to look inside the pile of boxes. At the farthest box, she saw the chip was inside it.

"It's inside that box."

Mikan pointed the box to Natsume. They headed for the box. Then suddenly, an explosion came from the boxes in front of them, causing them to be pushed backwards.

*Cough *Cough "Are you okay Natsume?" Mikan asked and looked at him.

"Yeah I'm fine." He replied. The guards protecting the chip popped out everywhere and they surrounded them. Mikan stood up and started fighting. She used her multiple Alices while Natsume used his fire Alice to fight them. After a few minutes, all of them were knocked out cold.

"Just like old times." Natsume said

"Just like old times." Mikan mimicked.

Mikan walked over to the box containing the chip and used her Alice to split the box open, and took the chip, "It's weird though."

"Why?"

"In my usual missions, it's a bit harder to find what I'm looking for. And the guards were better fighters than this. It's as if they wanted us to get it. Oh well, maybe I'm just overthinking things." Mikan said and smiled at Natsume. "And you didn't have to use your Alice that much, which is good."

Mikan grabbed his hand and teleported them back to the Academy.

…

Mikan and Natsume arrived in the warehouse and fought the guards that were set to stop them. As they took the chip, they were unaware of the hidden cameras and the people keeping an eye on them.

"In my usual missions, it's a bit harder to find what I'm looking for. And the guards were better fighters than this. It's as if they wanted us to get it. Oh, well, maybe I'm just overthinking things." Mikan said and smiled at Natsume, "And you didn't have to use your Alice that much, which is good." Mikan grabbed Natsume's hand and teleported back to the Academy.

"Ah… Looks like the black cat is back." Persona said as he looked into the monitor, watching Mikan and Natsume teleport back to the Academy.

"Should we take care of him, Persona?" A girl with shiny long black hair said. She took out a sharp knife and started playing with it, "It shouldn't be hard to eliminate him with his type of Alice."

"No. Let them be… for now." Persona said, "And plus, if anyone is going to get Natsume, it's going to be me."

"And that Mikan Sakura is mine." The former elementary school principal said as he stepped out from the shadows. He walked to a person tied to a chair and taped on the mouth, "And don't worry, I'll make sure you'll see how your precious daughter dies." He ripped off the tape from her mouth.

"You'll never get away with this!" She said.

"And who do you think will stop us? Your daughter and Natsume?" Persona asked mockingly.

"They will find where you're hiding!"

"That's what we're hoping for."

"What are you talking about mpth!" Persona taped her mouth again before she could say anything else.

"So noisy," Persona said and looked directly at Mikan's mother, "Just wait and see what we have planned."

"So who's our next victim?" The black haired girl said.

"Her" Persona said and pointed to the girl in the monitor.


	3. Chapter 3: Sleeping Mikan

Mikan transported Natsume and herself to the principal's office and noticed that he fell asleep on his desk. This has been happening lately because of the recent troubles going on. He overworks himself and even though Mikan scolds him about it, he still does it anyway. He does his best to help people and in truth, Mikan really respect him for that.

She walked to the vault and pushed the combinations, and then she placed the chip inside the vault, as well as wrote a note saying where the chip was and stuck it on his table for him to see when he wakes up. Mikan wrote the note in symbols, a language that only her uncle and she could understand. She opened the small closet, took out a blanket and wrapped it around him.

For that moment, she forgot that Natsume was still in the room and remembered his presence when he sat on a chair. She walked up to him, and he looked at her.

"Com on let's go." Mikan said

Natsume stood up. Mikan touched his shoulder, and she teleported them back to Mikan's room. As soon they arrived, Natsume headed for the door.

"It's already late. You should just stay here for the night." Mikan suggested to him.

"Hn. No thanks." He replied and continued for the door.

"Whatever, but… Natsume, my offer is always open." Mikan said and gave him a smile, "If you ever need anything, you can always ask me."

Natsume said nothing in reply, and went out the room. In a blink of an eye, he was gone.

_Why did I just say that? And why do my cheeks feel like it's burning? Arghh, I promised myself I wouldn't let this feeling happen again._

Mikan lay down on her bed. She was so tired that she didn't even botherto change clothes. So many things were running through her mind, and they all involved Natsume.

_Why? Why, Natsume? Why do I have to fall in love with you? _

Mikan slowly drifted into slumber and she swore she felt lips kiss her forehead just before she was out cold.

…

Mikan woke up the next day and the rain was pouring hard. What a sad way to start a Saturday. Mikan's body ached a bit and so she took a nice hot shower to soothe the pain. She dressed up quickly and headed to Hotaru's house. They all promised to meet there early so they could continue researching right away. When Mikan arrived at Hotaru's place, Robot Mikan was there to greet her and brought her to where Hotaru was. Mikan was surprised to find her sitting in the dinning room, eating a huge serving of crabs.

"Hotaru, why are you eating crabs this early?"

"I like crabs. If you got a problem with that, you can say it to my friend Baka 3000." She held out the huge baka gun for Mikan to see. Mikan got scared, and sat on the other end of the table. Even though she's fearless when it comes to missions, Hotaru always had that aura that could scare Mikan. Hotaru will always be Hotaru.

After drinking some coffee, Mikan headed to the library while Hotaru continued eating. After a few hours Ruka arrived.

"Hey Mikan, you're here early. Where's Hotaru?" he asked and then sat on the chair next to Mikan's.

"I don't know either. Last time I saw her she was eating breakfast and that was hours ago. A person can't eat that long…can they?"

"Since it's Hotaru we're talking about, you never know."

Thirty minutes later, Natsume arrived and then a few hours after that, Hotaru finally joined them. The rest of the day was filled with research. At some point, Natsume annoyed Mikan, which led to Mikan chasing him and that led to Hotaru getting irritated and hitting them both using her baka guns. Mikan and Natsume managed to avoid most of the shots, but some were just too fast to dodge.

Ruka, as usually was just there watching it all and being concerned when it looked as if Mikan and Natsume were hurt too much by the baka gun, or when Hotaru would go overboard with shooting. It was just like old times, the old times that they all really missed, even if they didn't want to admit it.

Mikan was looking through some books when she felt somewhat sleepy. She closed her eyes and decided to take a quick nap and before she knew it, she was fully asleep.

Everyone else was pretty tired as well. Ruka saw that Mikan had already fallen asleep, and that the rest of them were slowly dozing off as well.

"I think we should call it a day." Ruka suggested as he stood up from his chair.

"You're right. I have a meeting tomorrow and I'll need my sleep." Hotaru said as she headed for the door. She opened it, and stopped, "Someone take that baka home. I don't want her drooling on my expensive table." And with that, she left the room.

Ruka was about to carry Mikan when Natsume stepped in front of him.

"I'll do it. I know her room anyway." He said, facing away from Ruka.

Natsume walked closer to Mikan and slowly carried her. Ruka could see that Natsume was slightly blushing at the sight of Mikan asleep. He looked at Ruka and glared at him. It was his way of saying "Don't tell anyone or else", and Ruka, being used to it, nodded and stepped away. He pretended to be busy fixing something while Natsume carried Mikan outside the room and into the car Mikan used.

Ruka could tell that Natsume still likes Mikan even after all those years. That was the reason why he gave up on her way back in high school. Natsume was my best friend and he knew that Natsume would be the perfect person to protect Mikan.

_If only he would tell her how he feels. __it's been years and his feeling for her didn't change one bit. __You can do it Natsume__. Once this is over, you have to confess to her._

…

Natsume carried Mikan to the car and laid her on the back seat sleeping soundly. She didn't even bother locking the car when she got out of her car.

Same old Mikan.

Natsume opened her bag and took out the car keys. He walked over to the driver's seat, started the engine and drove back to the academy. Once they were there, Natsume carried Mikan back to her room. As he carried her, he passed by Narumi who was grinning so much, you could see it from the moon. Natsume just glared at him and Narumi got scared and walked away, but on the inside, he was still grinning.

_I can't believe that gay teacher is still here. It's been years, shouldn't he be dead by now or at least retired?_

Other teachers and staff of the academy also saw Natsume carrying Mikan and they stopped to stare as he carried Mikan and each person who did stare, Natsume glared at them. They all got scared and would surely have nightmares because of him.

_That's what they get for staring. _

It took Natsume quite some time to open the door. He was careful not to bump Mikan onto anything. He laid her down the bed and locked the door.

He looked at Mikan's face. Her face was still the same as he remembered, only more beautiful. He's always had feeling for her. That's why he left and isolated himself from everyone the moment he found out the AAO was still around. He left so that he could destroy the AAO once and for all. He also left hoping that his feeling for Mikan would eventually disappear through time, but it never did. Him seeing her again made him think that maybe his feelings for her would never disappear. He couldn't bear the thought of it. He didn't want Mikan getting sucked into his dark and dangerous life.

Natsume felt sleepy, and laid down next to her.

_I'll just take a quick nap_.

Then everything went black.

…

Mikan woke up, and the sun was shining down on her. She slowly opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was the wall… her wall to be exact. She tried recalling what happened the night before. Then she remembered falling asleep in Hotaru's library. What she wondered though, was how she got back to her room. She thought maybe she drove here or teleported and just forgot. That's when she turned around and saw herself staring into crimson eyes.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Mikan screamed, immediately sat up and pointed at him, "W-what are you doing here?"

"Strawberries, you're so noisy. Hasn't anyone told you to be quiet in the morning? There's this thing called sleeping you know." He said irritated and slowly stood up from the bed.

She was still in shock till she suddenly realized why he called her strawberries.

"You PERVERT!" She yelled at him and he just covered his ears.

"It's not my fault you let it show. Even as an adult, you wear grade school underwear."

"Arghh! What are you doing here anyway?"

"I slept here."

"And why would you think I would be okay with this?"

"Remember your offer? You said it was always open." He pointed out.

Mikan knew she said that, but she didn't think he would actually accept it. She got embarrassed and looked away.

"Awe… Are you that seduced by my charm?" He said teasingly.

"Why you!" Mikan ran up to him and started chasing him, trying to lay punches on him. But instead of hitting him, she accidentally punched the wall and it cracked, "Arghh! Look what you made me do?"

She looked at the damage that she made because of Natsume and stared at it.

_That's it!_

She hurriedly got her bag and cars keys.

"Yo polka, why are you doing?"

"I know what the symbol is! We need to go to Hotaru's now!"

"Eh… polka, you do know that you're still wearing the same outfit as yesterday right?" She looked at herself and blushed slightly.

She grabbed some clothes and headed for the bathroom. A few minutes later, she was done. She saw that Natsume was also ready to go, and changed clothes while she was in the bathroom. They quickly drove to Hotaru's house. Mikan banged on the door and a sleepy Robot Mikan opened the door. Who knew robots slept too?

"Miss Mikan_, yawn,_ Miss Hotaru is still sleeping." Robot Mikan said as they headed to Hotaru's room.

"This is important!" Mikan said and stormed into Hotaru's room. Hotaru got up and looked pissed. She was also covered by some green stuff around her face.

"So that's how ugly people look without make-up." Natsume said, and Hotaru used her baka gun at him but he was able to dodge every hit.

"There better be a good reason why you woke me up from my beauty sleep or else, prepare for the wrath of my baka bomb." She said and pointed at the baka bombs next to her.

"I know the symbol!" Mikan exclaimed.

"What symbol? Natsume, what is this baka talking about?"

"Beats me" Natsume shrugged.

"The symbol! The weird symbol in Anna's body!" Mikan said.

"Oh" Hotaru said, expressionless as ever, "I'll just take a bath first."

"But this is really important!"

"Well it can wait until my bath is done. Why don't you call Ruka and tell him to come by." Hotaru said and walked off to the bathroom.

"Oh yeah, Ruka" Mikan opened her bag and reached for her phone. "Wait, I don't have his number. Natsume, can you call him?"

"Hn" He said and took out his phone to call Ruka.

A few minutes later, they were all in the library.

"So what's the symbol?" Ruka asked

"It's a fist!"

"A fist?" Ruka asked

"Yeah, when I accidentally hit the wall of my room thanks to a certain _someone_, I noticed that the shape it made was similar to the one in Anna's body. We have to go back to the lab and take another look at it." Mikan said and they all drove to the lab using Hotaru's car.

Half an hour later, they were in the room where Anna's body was being kept. They observed the mark that was made to the place where her heart used to be in, and it was indeed the shape of a fist.

"So a person used his fist to get the heart?" Ruka asked

"Yeah, and not just a normal person but an Alice" Hotaru said

"This must mean that there's an unknown Alice out there that can penetrate through skin since even the strength Alice can't get through skin." Mikan said

"I just can't believe that a person would be sick enough to do that." Ruka said with disgust.

"And whoever he is, he wears a ring." Hotaru added.

"How do you know that he wears a ring?" Natsume asked and walked over to observe the body.

"See this," Hotaru said pointing to the mark, "It's slightly bigger than the rest. No matter what the size of the hand may be, it cannot be that big unless he was wearing a ring."

"I could try to get DNA samples and find out who did it." An assistant in the lab offered.

"We already know who did this, baka. The AAO and what we need to find out is how to stop it." Hotaru said, giving the assistant a glare. The poor guy got scared of Hotaru.

"I think we should still find out who did this so that we can avoid or capture him when we see him." Mikan said to the assistant and gave him a smile. He smiled back and started working on finding out whose DNA it was and left the room.

"Hey guys, look at this." Ruka said and pointed to Anna's neck. It was a bruising that didn't show a few days ago.

"It's a bruise." Natsume pointed out.

Mikan observed it more clearly and noticed that it formed a figure.

"I think Ruka might be on to something. See the bruise? There are lines there, like a drawing on the bruise." Mikan said, "It could've been from a handkerchief or something the AAO were holding. This could lead us to where they are."

Hotaru scanned Anna's neck while other lab assistants did tests to see what the figure was. After a few hours, they finally discovered what the symbol was. It was an Eiffel tower with a hat on the top.

"I know that symbol." Hotaru said

"You do? What is it?" Mikan asked

"It's the logo of the Shangrila Paris Hotel. I stayed there before. It's printed in their slippers, bathrobes…"

"And handkerchiefs" Mikan continued, "So this means that they're in Paris or were in Paris."

"I guess this means were going to Paris." Hotaru said

"Paris?" Natsume and Ruka said in unison.

"Yay! I've always wanted to go to Paris!" Mikan exclaimed, "I can't wait to go shopping there! Ouch!" Hotaru used her baka bazooka on Mikan.

"We're going there to solve a case, not to go shopping baka!" Hotaru said

"I know, but we can do some shopping along the way too. Even if the AAO are still there, it'll take some time to find them and we have to blend in." Mikan said and started imagining what she would do in Paris. "I could go to the Eifel Tower, see a fashion show…"

Everybody else just looked at her and sighed as she drifted to her own imagination. She was brought back down to reality when the assistant who did the DNA tests came in.

"So, whose DNA does it belong to?" Natsume asked

"Well, that's the complicated part… it's not human DNA."

"What!" All four of them exclaimed.

"We tested the DNA traces and they're not from humans, plants, animals or anything known to us. It's a new kind of DNA."


	4. Chapter 4: Fights and French Kisses

"All set?" A voice said, and Mikan turned around to see whom it was coming from

"Narumi-senpai! What are you doing here?" Mikan asked and gave him a big hug

"Well, I heard you were off to Paris to chase after the person who killed Anna, so they asked me to substitute for your DA class. It should be Persona, but he can't come till next week or so, so for now, they have me" Narumi said

"Well, goodluck with them. They can be quite a handful"

"You're the one I should be wishing luck. Going against the AAO is no joke, especially now that they've become more powerful."

"I know. But hey, I became more powerful too, and I am not letting them get away with Anna's murder."

"Then I guess you better get going Mikan, and don't worry, I'll make sure the students will be protected."

"Thanks Narumi-senpai!" Mikan said and she left the room, bringing her bags, and started walking.

"Hey mikan! The gate is on the other side!" Narumi yelled from the outside the door.

"I know, but I have to go somewhere first before leaving" Mikan said, and continued walking. She walked to the dormitory, and knocked on the door.

"Kazame, it's me, Mikan"

The door opened and Kazame gave Mikan a huge hug.

"Mikan-senpai, please don't leave! I already lost mama, I don't want to lose you too!" Kazame said and her eyes were full of tears

"You're not going to lose me Kazame, but I need to go and find the evil people who did this to your mom." Mikan said, still not letting go of their hug

"But what if you get hurt?"

"I won't. I promise." Mikan broke their hug and looked at Kazame, "I'm the powerful Mikan-senpai remember? I'll be fine." Mikan smiled, giving reassurance.

"Okay, if you promise" Kazame said, "I love you Mikan-senpai. Please be safe!"

"I will"

Mikan gave Kazame one last hug, and headed towards Hotaru's place, where they all promised to meet.

_I hope I can keep that promise Kazame, I really do. _

….

Meanwhile, Hotaru was also getting ready to leave for Paris.

"I shall take your luggage now Miss Hotaru." Robot Mikan said, as she lifted all of the luggage with her immense strength.

"Don't drop it. I have lots of inventions in that bag." Hotaru said

"By the way Miss Hotaru, Sir Ruka is here."

"Let him in." Hotaru said in a monotonous way, and Robot Mikan left to bring the luggage to the limousine.

Once Hotaru was alone, she ran to the mirror, and looked at her face. She started fixing herself and even looked at her make-up and was tempted to put them on.

_Baka! What are you doing? It's just Ruka. I don't have feelings for him anymore..right? NO I DON'T. So stop it you baka, stop thinking of him!_

Hotaru suddenly felt another presence in the room. It was Ruka! Her heart couldn't help but skip a beat. She never did get over Ruka, she only hid her emotions behind a mask, and she was very good at it.

"We better go to the dining room. Robot Mikan made us breakfast. We can eat while waiting for those two idiots." Hotaru said and started heading for the dining room, but as she came close to where Ruka was standing, she couldn't help but look down. And now Ruka was alone in Hotaru's room. He started looking around, remembering the first time he ever came to this room…

"_I knew you'd be here." Ruka said, looking at Hotaru sitting on the edge of her bed_

"_Well, I didn't feel like staying down stairs. Too many people." Hotaru said_

"_You're the one who decided to have this house gala. If you don't like huge crowds of people, why did you decide to make this party?" Ruka said, and he walked over to where Hotaru was and sat next to her._

"_Because, those people down there will help make me rich. If they have a good time, they'll remember my name, and invest in my business, thus, more money for me"_

"_Up until now, money is still your number one priority" Ruka sighed, "and aren't they going to notice you're not down there with them?"_

"_They just need to have a good time. That doesn't mean I have to be there."_

"_If you say so…" Ruka said, giving up on trying to bring her back down, "Hey, you're eyes are getting red, I'll go get your glasses. Where'd you put them?"_

" _It's there in that drawer"_

_Ruka walks over to the drawer and grabs her glasses, and her contact case._

"_here you go" Ruka said giving her the case, "I don't know why you just don't wear your glasses if your contacts hurt that much."_

"_Because baka, I have to get used to them. I hate wearing glasses in public." Hotaru said, and she takes out her contacts and puts on her hugs glasses._

"_I don't get why though" Ruka said, "You look fine with it. You always look beautiful"_

_At those words, Hotaru couldn't help but blush._

"_While I was getting you glasses, I saw something." Ruka said, now looking at Hotaru face to face, "I can't believe you still kept that pin. I thought you would have thrown it by now."_

"_So? I just didn't have time to throw it that's all." Hotaru said defensively_

"_Oh, is this the famous blank face Hotaru, actually showing some emotion?" Ruka said teasingly. Hotaru just looked at him with dagger eyes, "Hey, hey, I was just kidding Hotaru."_

_Hotaru still looked at him with dagger eyes, and shot him using a Baka gun bazooka._

…

Ruka rubbed his head as if still feeling the pain from the baka bazooka. He walked over to the drawer and opened it. To his shock, his Alice pin that Hotaru got all those years ago, was still there, in the same place he found it 9 years ago. He couldn't help but give off a smile, as he looked at the pin. Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him. He looked back, and it was Hotaru, standing next to the open door.

"Oy, what are you doing?" Hotaru said

"You still have it till now." Ruka said, Hotaru looked at him, confused

"What are you talking about?"

"This" Ruka held the pin so that Hotaru may see.

"Oh… that…well, that's because-" before Hotaru could continue, Robot Mikan entered the room

"Miss Mikan and Sir Natsume are here"

"I guess we better head downstairs huh" Ruka said, smiling at Hotaru, and they both walked back to the living room.

A few hours later, they were all on the plane ride to Paris. Everyone was quietly doing their own business: sleeping, reading, etc, well, everyone except Mikan who was being noisy as usual for she was overly excited for Paris.

"WOW! Look at all the people. They look like ants from up here!" Mikan exclaimed, "Look Natsume, it's soooo cool!"

"Hn. Stop shouting polka, you're sound like a little girl."

Yes, Natsume and Mikan ended up sitting next to each other. Apparently since they booked the flight last minute, there were only a few seats left. Hotaru took a seat in the business class, and as for the rest, there were only 3 seats left. 2 seats together, and 1 in the middle along with strangers, and since Natsume would fry them to crisp, and Mikan would annoy them to death, Ruka volunteered to sit there instead, and thus, Mikan and Natsume sat together. This was going to be a LOOONGG flight for natsume.

After a few minutes, Mikan decided to listen to music. She loved music, in fact, she was even singing along to it. Natsume on the other hand, got annoyed and pulled out one of her earphones.

"Hey Natsume! What was that for?" Mikan exclaimed

"You were singing out loud polka. People's ears are gonna start bleeding because of you."

"My singing isn't THAT bad, and stop calling me polka, you idiot. I'm not a child anymore"

"Then stop acting like one polka."

"Then stop acting like one polka." Mikan mimicked mockingly. Natsume just rolled his eyes, and put on his earphones, and ignored Mikan

A few hours later, Natsume woke up from his long nap, and felt a heavy weight on his shoulder. It was Mikan. She must've fallen asleep as well. Her head was on his shoulder, and she was sleeping soundly. Natsume couldn't help but look at her…

_Annoying polka, even till now you're still dense…_

After hours being on that plane, they finally landed, and were now in Paris.

"Finally! We're here! Ahh… I can finally stretch my legs and sleep properly" Mikan said happily and jumped right into bed, "what should we do first, a massage? Or maybe some shopping…"

_**BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!**_

"Baka, we're here to track the AAO, we're not on vacation" Hotaru said with that straight face of hers

"Oh yeah, sorry." Mikan said apologetically

"I'm going to go search the premises, and ask around for clues." Hotaru said, "baka, you can go and sleep first till I get back."

"really? Thanks hotaru!" Mikan jumped out of bed and ran to hug Hotaru

_**BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!**_

"ouch…" Mikan said. She was starting to see stars around her

"I'll go with her" Ruka said a few seconds after Hotaru left.

Ruka stepped out of the hotel and looked around for Hotaru. He saw her on the far end of the street and started walking towards her. When he was almost there, and about to call her name, a black van appeared next to Hotaru, and men in black outfits came out and held her. Ruka started running to them, while Hotaru was fighting back. She was using her baka gun 9000, but there were too many of them. One of then put her hands behind her back, and started dragging her.

"LET GO OF ME!" Hotaru screamed, still struggling. The man holding her covered her face with a handkerchief and she slowly fainted

Ruka finally arrived and started fighting the group of men. He used his alice to call animals to help him, and in a few seconds, dogs and cats were biting and scratching the enemy. Birds started pecking on them. While the men were distracted, he started looking for the man who grabbed Hotaru. He finally spotted her,

"LET HER GO!" Ruka shouted, and was ready to fight. The man just smiled and pointed a gun towards Hotaru's head

"Come any closer and I'll shoot her" The masked man said.

Ruka couldn't do anything. He didn't want to risk Hotaru dying right then and there. All he could do was stand there and watch the man haul Hotaru inside the van, and he also watched them speed off into the street. Ruka ran back to their hotel room, and burst in the door, panting. He was dirty, and had bruises all over his body.

"What the hell happened to you?" Natsume asked

"Hotaru…was…taken…by… some masked men… in a van" Ruka said in between pants

"Polka wake up!" Natsume said, shaking Mikan furiously. Mikan slowly opened her eyes and asked,

"Wha—what's happening?"

"Hotaru's been kidnapped." Natsumer said

"WHAT?" Mikan was instantly awake, "HOW?"

"Some masked men in a black van took her away." Ruka explained, "I tried to get her back, but the man pointed a gun to her head. He said he was gonna shoot her if I stepped any closer. Damn it! But I did get the van's license plate as it sped off"

"Good," Mikan said, "we can use that to track down the van's whereabouts"

Mikan grabbed a small suitcase from her luggage and opened it. It was a high-tech computer.

"Now what was the plate number?"

Ruka told Mikan the license plate and Mikan started typing as fast as she could. Natsume and Ruka couldn't catch up to what Mikan was doing. They were even shocked that Mikan even knew how to do this. Indeed, their innocent Mikan has grown.

"Aha! Found it!" Mikan said, "The van is parked at an abandoned warehouse about an hour from here. I can teleport us there. Now, according to my research, there are about a hundred men inside, so we have to be careful. Here" Mikan said, as she tossed a gun to Ruka

"Whaaaat?" Ruka shouted "I can't shoot a gun!"

"Of course you can." Mikan said, "you used to take shooting lessons remember?"

"yes, but that was on targets, not on actual people"

"There's a first time for everything" Natsume said

"And for you Natsume, here" Mikan handed over the stone that she gave back at the mission, "Now, are we ready?"

Both Ruka and Natsume nodded

"I want to help too"

"Who said that?" Mikan asked, kind of scared

"It sounded like it came from that bag" Ruka said, and opened the bag. It was robot mikan who was inside!

"Robot Mikan" Mikan said, "What are you doing here?"

"Miss Hotaru brought me along with her" Robot Mikan answered, "and I want to help get her back"

"Well, okay then. Now, everyone hold hands so I can teleport all of us." Mikan said, "Let's go get Hotaru back"

….

Mikan, Ruka, Natsume, and Robot Mikan arrived at the warehouse. It was full of old boxes stacked up all around the place. They all hid behind one, and observed the premises. Unknown to them, that eyes were watching them from a camera.

"Well, well. If it isn't Mikan and her Scooby gang" The black haired girl taunted, "Do they really think we weren't expecting them? Puh-lease."

"That's one flaw that they have," Persona said, "They love. They prefer to put themselves in danger, rather than having a stone cold heart. Natsume once had that, but thanks to a certain girl, that changed. And THAT…. Will kill him"

"Well, I better get going to our little prisoner." The black haired girl said, and he left Persona in the surveillance room to watch.

…

"According to this, Hotaru should be one room away from us, right in that direction" Mikan said, pointing north.

"there are a bunch of guards there" Ruka said

"I guess we have no choice but to fight them." Mikan said, "Now let's go"

They slowly crept behind one of the guys, and Robot Mikan shot him with a needle that makes your unconscious. Natsume on the other hand, covered the other guy's mouth, and snapped his neck. Just then, another masked man noticed them, and shouted

"Intruder! Get them!"

They all started fighting the army of men, until they finally reached the door. Once they all got through it, Mikan threw a smoke bomb to the room, so that everyone would be unconscious. After throwing the bomb, they looked to the room, and saw Hotaru tied to chair, her mouth covered by a piece of cloth.

"Hotaru!" Mikan exclaimed, and started running towards her. Just then a shadow appeared and out came a black haired woman, with green eyes, and a beautiful face. You wouldn't think she was a criminal from the way that she looked.

"Not so fast Scooby gang" She said

"Scooby gang?" Mikan asked confused

"Can you be any more stupid Mikan." The woman said

"Who are you calling stupid, you little-"

Mikan punched her, but missed, and the woman grabbed her hand and twisted her arm. Mikan shouted in pain. Natsume got mad and aiming fireballs towards her, she let go of Mikan, and dodged it all. Mikan, Natsume, and robot Mikan all teamed up to fight her, while Ruka let go of the gun, and ran to Hotaru. He started untying the knots that tied her up to the chair. Then more men came inside the room, and started fighting Mikan, Natsume and robot Mikan. Ruka was almost close to freeing Hotaru when someone punched him from the side, and started kicking him. On the other side of the room, Mikan, who just finished fighting one of the men, ran to Hotaru to finally set her free. She used a fire alice to burn to the rope.

"Come on Hotaru, I'll teleport you out of here" Mikan said, "Don't worry about the others, I gave them a teleporting stone"

Meanwhile, Natsume was about to throw another fireball at our villain, when another person attacked him from behind. While Natsume was being distracted, the black haired woman looked down, and found a gun on the floor. She smiled and evil smile and took it. She slowly aimed it straight at Mikan and Hotaru

"It's like killing two birds with one stone" She smiled and fired the gun

Natsume heard the gun shot, and saw where it was pointed

"mikan look out!" Natsume shouted

Mikan looked back and heard the gunshot hit someone. Then she heard Hotaru crying and looking at someone. Mikan followed Hotaru's eyes, and saw that the bullet did hit something… it shot right to robot mikan's heart. Hotaru escaped Mikan's hold and ran to robot Mikan. Hotaru just sat there… motionless…speechless. Suddenly, she felt hands holding her.

"Come on Hotaru, we have to go," Ruka said, "It isn't safe here"

Hotaru didn't say anything. Ruka, fearing that Hotaru would be shot next, grabbed her and teleported themselves back to the hotel room. Natsume and Mikan did the same.

Once they got back, they were all tired, bruised and some, injured. Mikan walked over to Hotaru

"Hotaru are you okay?" Mikan asked. She was so concerned about Hotaru. Even after years if not talking to her, this mission made her remember the old bond they used to share. She couldn't help but feel bad for her.

Hotaru started crying. She was sobbing and crying. She fell to the ground and started punching the floors. She was going hysterical. All Mikan could do was hug her, but Hotaru would push her off and continue crying.

"Maybe you guys should go get her something to drink" Ruka said, "I'll stay with her"

Mikan and Natsume agreed, and headed outside to buy some food. Ruka on the other hand, slowly walked to Hotaru, and hugged her. Hotaru pushed him away, like what he did to Mikan, but Ruka just came and hugged her again. This time, she didn't push him away. She just cried there while Ruka hugged her.

"It's okay Hotaru, It's okay"

It was the first time Hotaru ever did anything like this. She never showed tears, never showed any emotion, she always seemed so strong, but now, she looked for vulnerable… so weak.

"It's all my fault." Hotaru said

"What are you talking about?"

"I was so stupid! I should have noticed that van. I should have seen it coming!" Hotaru exclaimed, "The things they did to me….They covered my eyes, and shut me in complete darkness. They taunted me. They told me I would be the key to killing Mikan. Then they said they'd kill me the way they killed Anna. I prayed that you guys wouldn't come, but you did. She said you would. Mikan almost died today, and robot Mikan is gone…" *sobs*

"It's okay Hotaru. You can always make another one."

"It won't be the same. That robot mikan, has been with me through everything. Years after Alice Academy, when I was all alone, she was there with me."

"We're here with you now. I'M here. I won't leave you"

"You did it before. What makes you so sure you won't do it again?"

"I didn't leave you. You left me. You shut me out, and I thought I was a nuisance to you. So I left."

"I shut you out, because I couldn't afford to be so… emotional."

"What are you talking about?"

"I was always this poker faced girl, and I was okay with that. Then you came along. You were the only one, other than that idiot, who broke my façade."

"Why is that such a bad thing?"

"Because I don't wanna fall for you!" Hotaru shouted, "Cause I know how that always ends. In heartbreak. I don't wanna end up like those people who lets their guard down and gets their hearts crushed. No, not me."

"What if it ends up happy? Isn't that worth the risk?"

"no.."

"Why not?"

"Because it never does!" Hotaru was still weeping, "I never told anyone this, but… when I was young, I was always so happy, and I thought I had the perfect family. Then one day my parents started fighting, and they soon got divorced. After the divorce, my father focused on work and became rich. My parents said they would still have time to be with me, but they never did. My friends promised to never abandon me, but they did. Everytime I opened my heart, I end up being disappointed. And so I built up this wall, because I didn't want to be disappointed again

"so then tell me, why did you keep my Alice pin then?" Ruka asked seriously. Hotaru couldn't answer him, and just remained silent but crying. Ruka cupped her chin, and made her face him. Eye to eye. Nose to nose. Face to face. "Hotaru, if you haven't noticed, I never stopped my feelings for you. Ever since I fell for you, I never stopped falling."

He wiped the tears falling from her face and slowly closed the distance between them, leading up to a kiss…


	5. Chapter 5: Plan B

**Please review and give me your opinion on it! Mwah! Thanks in advance. And THANK YOU for finding the time to read my story :) **

**For the country that I used for this, I just picked a random one okay, so peace! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice and any of their characters. And any reference to countries, names, and information are purely made up. **

**ENJOY! **

* * *

In a café located at the lobby of the hotel, Mikan and Natsume were lining up to order some food for them, and most especially, for Hotaru who had just gone through a mental breakdown.

"What a day." Mikan sighed, "I hope Hotaru's feeling better."

"Ruka's with her, I'm sure he'll be able to cheer her up." Natsume said in his usual cold demure self, hiding his deep concern over Hotaru, and over Mikan.

"Are you sure?" Mikan asked,

"Goodevening! Welcome to the Dreams Sweets Café, how may I help you?" The cashier girl, whose name tag says Bella, said in a very happy manner.

"Oh, yes," Mikan smiled, turning her head to face the cashier, "4 coffees, a dozen danishes and a pistachio cake"

"Do you have a room?" Bella said, still holding that huge smile on her face

"Yes" Mikan replied

"Would you like me to just add it to your overall tab?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Okay. May I have your room key please."

"here you go" Mikan handed over her room key

"Here you go, and here's your order. Thank you and have a great night!"

"Here, let me carry that" Natsume said, grabbing the paper bags full of food, and he started walking

"You don't have to Natsume. I can do it." Mikan said, trying to catch up to Natsume

"No thank you. Knowing you, you'll probably spill them halfway polka."

"Hmph! I will not! And stop calling me polka, you pervert"

"Well YOU call me pervert, so why can't I call you polka?"

"Natsume…"

Natsume froze for a second, and looked at Mikan,"What did you say?"

"I said… I called you Natsume, not pervert" Mikan said, looking down and seeing her reflection on the floor.

"Mikan…" Natsume said slowly, and right then and there, they were both looking into each other's eyes. The world seemed to stop moving, and it was as if they were the only people in that place.

"We- uh, we better get going. Hotaru's probably hungry." Mikan said, trying to change the mood of the situation

"Yeah, come on" Natsume said, and again, he was back to his cold self once more.

They walked into the elevator, and as the elevator moved upward, they were just standing there…awkwardly. Mikan felt like she just wanted the elevator doors to open and end this awkwardness, while Natsume just wanted to say something…anything, just to end this awkward atmosphere. It seemed like it was taking forever for them to finally reach their floor.

"So…" Mikan started, "back at the café, you said Ruka would be able to cheer her up."

"Yeah," Natsume replied, "After graduation, all of us seemed to drift apart, that is, except for Hotaru and Ruka. They still remained in contact for years. That was the time she started showing a little bit of emotion, started laughing and smiling more. That was the last time I saw her… both of them actually, till I had to travel somewhere on business. Because of that, Ruka and I also drifted, and I guess after a while, so did him and Hotaru, and seeing her again, back to her old high school self, Ruka was one of the only people who could get through her, other than you, polka."

Mikan wanted to ask what exactly happened between him and Ruka, because she feels like there's more to the story than what Natsume showed. She wanted to ask where he went and why he went to travel abroad. Was it because of Alice Academy? Did he have to do missions again? So many questions to ask, and yet, they were all about Natsume.

_I can't possibly still have feelings for him. But why does my heart beat so fast when he's around? Sigh… even after all these years…_

The elevator doors open, and they stepped out in silence. They walked to the hallway, and finally reached their hotel room and opened it. Ruka was sitting on the edge of the bed, brushing his pet rabbit, while Hotaru was sitting on the corner, working on something.

"Hey Hotaru, what are you doing?" Mikan asked, as she entered. Natsume, on the other hand, put down the paper bag and started taking out the food.

"I'm making a whole new collection of Baka guns, then I will shoot those men and that annoying woman off the exosphere." Hotaru said. You could feel an aura of fire surrounding her, and she started laughing sinisterly. Mikan kind of got scared, and started sweating a little.

"Well, at least you're back to normal now Hotaru." Mikan smiled, but still trembling a little from Hotaru's aura.

"So what food did you guys bring?" Ruka said standing up, still holding the rabbit.

"Awe! And who's this cute little thing?" Mikan asked as she reached out her hand to touch the rabbit. She started petting it and holding it while Ruka walked over to the table to get some food. "Hey Natsume, come on and look at this. Isn't he just sooo cuteee?"

"Hn." Natsume replied

"Suit yourself" Mikan said, and continued to pet the rabbit.

After they had some food in their systems, they all sat in a circle and discussed on what they plan to do next.

"Okay, so what do we know so far?" Mikan asked.

"Well, we know that they're AAO" Ruka started,

"and that the black haired woman is probably their leader." Natsume said

"And that they're dead meat when I get my hands on them" Hotaru added. Both Ruka and Mikan got scared a little

"What else? Something from their actions, the equipment they use? That person, she didn't have a mask on, do you think we could find out who she is?" Mikan said

_DING!_

"What the heck was that?" Natsume asked and Hotaru stood up

"That was my latest invention, the evidence scanner." Hotaru said

"The what?" they asked

"Basically, it scanned my clothes and picked up any foreign object found in it. Hair, blood, dust, those sort of stuff, and separated them accordingly."

"That's great! Maybe we can find more clues! Great invention Hotaru!" Mikan said, going over to hug Hotaru

_BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!_

"Ouch…" Mikan said, rubbing her head

Natsume stood up, opened his luggage and started browsing through his mangas.

"Uh… Natsume, I don't think that you should be reading your mangas right now" Ruka said

"So," Mikan said, ignoring Natsume's sudden urge to read manga "Did you find anything?"

Hotaru starts looking at the results, and shakes her head "Nope. Nothing. Not even a piece of hair or a speck of foreign blood."

"Oh man" Mikan sighs

"Libre Crezca Fecundo" Natsume murmured

"What is that boy yacking on about?" Hotaru asked

Natsume walks over to them and says, "When we were hiding behind those huge crates of guns, there was something written on them. I didn't know what it was, but I knew I've seen it somewhere before, and now I know why. Here" then Natsume puts down his open paged manga and you can clearly see the word Libre Crezca Fecundo written on the poster.

"But what exactly does-" and Mikan looks at the page, "Libre… Crezca…. Fecundo mean?"

"It means Grow Free and Fertile." Hotaru said. She had already been typing on her laptop the moment Natsume showed the manga. "It's the motto of Guatemala"

"Why was the motto of Guatemala stamped on those crates?" Mikan asked. Everyone sweatdropped. They were all thinking the same thing,

_Is she seriously asking that? _

"It's because the crates and the guns probably came from Guatemala" Hotaru said blankly

"OHHH!" Mikan exclaimed

"Hn. Even after all those years, you're still a baka you polka" Natsume said

"Hmph!" mikan said, "STOP CALLING ME POLKA!"

_BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!_

"So noisy" Hotaru said, massaging her head

"It's HIS fault" Mikan pointed to Natsume

"It's your fault for wearing such granny polka dotted underwear." Natsume replied

"Why you little-" but before Mikan could continue, Ruka interrupted

"Guys! Take a look at this!" Ruka was pointing at the television screen, and he increased the volume so everyone could hear.

"This just in: A dead body was spotted in the shores of Miami. Police and CSI speculate that he jumped off the diving cliff and hit a huge rock below the water, drowned, and died."

The camera moved in to show them carrying the body off the shore.

"Wait…isn't that…" Ruka started

"Oh my God…it is" Hotaru followed.

Natsume on the other hand was speechless. He grabbed the remote control and turned off the television.

"DAMN IT!" Natsume shouted.

Then just at that moment a phone rang. It was Mikan's. She looked at the caller ID and answered the call.

"Hello?" Mikan said, "Yes, I saw the news just now… Mochiage didn't die from drowning did he?... yeah I got it, I know. Bye"

Mikan walked over to her bed, took out her luggage and started putting clothes in.

"Mikan, what are you doing?" Ruka asked

"What does it look like I'm doing? Packing" Mikan answered

"He meant, WHY are you packing polka?" Natsume answered, trying to hide the fact that he was shaken up by Mochiage's death.

"Isn't it obvious? We're going to Guatemala." Mikan replied

"You really are a baka. We can't go just rushing into Guatemala and charging head on with the AAO. We need more information." Hotaru said

"Well clearly we're not going to get it from just researching. The AAO knows how to hide their trail." Mikan said. "There's only one way to learn more about them, and that's by infiltrating one of their hideouts."

"And how exactly are we going to do that? Now that we've found one of them, I bet they'd tighten up security and are now more careful than ever." Ruka said

"Easy." Mikan replied, "I'll purposely get kidnapped."

"WHAT?" They all exclaimed

"Are you that big of an idiot? They'll kill you!" Hotaru said

Suddenly, Natsume rose from his seat, and grabbed Mikan's hand. They were now facing each other, only inches apart. They were so close that they could feel each other breathing.

"NO WAY ARE YOU GETTING YOURSELF PURPOSELY KIDNAPPED." Natsume said, as if commanding

"Why not?" Mikan asked, "It's the fastest way to get information, and plus, I can always teleport back if ever."

"NO! you are not risking it."

"WHY NOT?"

"BECAUSE I CAN'T RISK LOSING YOU!" Natsume shouted.

Mikan was speechless.

Ruka and Hotaru were speechless.

Everyone was speechless, and the room was silent…

* * *

**So what do you think? PLEASE REVIEW! I WOULD SUPER APPRECIATE IT! :) **

**XOXO**


	6. Chapter 6: Starry Starry Night

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Gakuen and any of it's characters. Also, any form of similarities to real life people and events are purely coincidental.  
**

**ENJOY! :D  
**

* * *

Ruka enters the room and finds Hotaru sitting on the bed and working on her laptop.

"Mikan's not back yet?" Ruka asked,

"Nope" Hotaru said idly, and continued typing.

"She's probably still shocked an confused about what Natsume said."

"Of course she is. That baka, even until now, she's too ignorant to notice" Hotaru says, "and that kuro neko is too stubborn and afraid to confess."

Ruka sighs, "I wonder where Mikan went"

….

Meanwhile, on the brick layered roof, sat a very confused girl named Mikan. She's been there for hours, just looking at the stars. The stars always seem to shine bright whenever she's down or confused. It was as if the stars where shining just for her. She also didn't mind the isolation. It gave her a chance to think, but in the hours she's spent up there thinking, she still couldn't tell what happened back there.

_Why did Natsume say that? _Mikan thought

"I knew you'd be here." A voice said. A voice that Mikan could always tell who. Natsume.

Natsume walks closer to Mikan, started looking at the starts, and said "You always did like looking at the stars."

Mikan looked at natsume and said, "How'd you know that?"

"I always saw you at the rooftop back in the academy whenever I had missions." He replied.

"So why didn't you ever join me or say hi?"

"Because you'd annoy me."

Mikan looks back at the stars and said, "Is that really why?"

"Of course. Tsk.. why would I lie?" Natsume was still looking everywhere else but at Mikan.

"Anyway," Mikan starts, changing the topic, "Why are you up here now?"

"I wanted to check if you were fine." Natsume said, "You know…to make sure you're not stupid enough get lost or get kidnapped."

"I can take care of myself, pervert." Mikan replied, "So back there…. What did you mean when you said those words?"

"Well…"

"Well…?"

"Nahh… forget about it"

"Okay. Then I guess I'll be going through with the mission"

"No."

"Why not?" Mikan asked, "If you can't give me a reason why, I don't see why I can't do it."

"Because…" Natsume started, "Because I can't stand to see you hurt. I can't imagine just letting you go there alone, and me not being able to protect you."

Mikan just stared in silence

"Mikan…" Natsume continued, "I-I….lo-"

_RINGGG! RINGGG! RINGG!_

"hello?" Mikan says, answering her phone, "No, we don't have any new clues…. Yes we have a plan…. Yes, uncle I'll keep you posted. Ja"

Mikan closed her phone, and everything was silent. Mikan couldn't look at Natsume, and Natsume, well, he couldn't look at Mikan either. The silence was deafening.

"You changed your ringtone." Natsume said, breaking the awkward silence.

"Yeah I did." Mikan replied, "You said it was weird, so I changed it."

"I never said it was weird."

"Yes you did, you pervert."

"Well, I don't" Natsume said, looking at the stars again "I actually like it. It's unique, just like you."

Mikan couldn't help but blush. Thank God Natsume wasn't looking at her, or he would have laughed! At least, that's what Mikan thought. In fact. Natsume couldn't look at her because he was afraid. Afraid that he'll blurt out his true feelings if he looked at her. Afraid of how she'd react. And worried that his confession could jeopardize the entire mission. He couldn't tell her. Not right now anyway.

Natsume stood up

"Let's head back to the room. It's dangerous out here. Someone might see us" Natsume said, and started walking, "and I bet Ruka and Hotaru are worried about you."

And with that, Natsume was gone. Mikan, on the other hand, looked up at the stars one last time, and teleported back to the room.

"Mikan, You're back!" Ruka said

"It's about time baka," Hotaru said, "I got us tickets to Guatemala, and it leaves tonight, so start packing"

Hotaru tosses Mikan a handful of clothes

"What about you guys, why aren't you packing?" Mikan asked

"Look to your right baka" Hotaru said

Mikan looked, and saw luggages all packed up and ready to go.

"We already finished packing." Ruka said

"Even Natsume?" Mikan asked

"Natsume didn't un-load his luggage." Ruka replied. "He never did. Not even when he was in Alice."

"oh." Mikan said, and she continued packing.

…..

"WOW! Business class really is amazing!" Mikan said as she played with the touch screen TV. She was really in awe. Suddenly, a pillow flew and hit her smack on the face.

"shattup polka." Natsume said, "You're so loud. Can't you see people are sleeping?"

After Natsume left Mikan on the rooftop, he went back to his cold self and acted like it never happened. That was okay for Mikan. She didn't wanna have to deal with talking about it anyway.

"well, business class IS the only way to go." Hotaru said monotonously

"Well, it's amazing!" Mikan exclaimed, and another pillow hit her

"What did I say about being so noisy?" Natsume said,

Mikan put her headphones on and pretended not to hear Natsume.

…

"THIS is our room?" Mikan asked in amazement.

"Yup." Hotaru replied, "You can put the bags there" She said to the bellboy and they started putting down the luggages.

The room really was amazing. It was the presidential suite. It had four rooms. One for each of them. It also had a kitchen complete with all the cooking utilities you could ever imagine. Then there was the dinning room. It had a long table fit for a king, and hand carved wooden chairs with the hotel's logo carved on the top. The plates, spoons, and all the other utensils also had the logo embellished on them. The living room had a huge flatscreen TV with matching surround sound system. It also had comfy chairs, and a small coffee table. There was also a mini library and a loveseat near it. The windows on the other hand, had a beautiful view of the city. It was definitely one heck of a room.

"Well, are you ready?." Hotaru said

"ready?" Ruka asked

"to go Shopping duh"

"Why?"

"Well," Hotaru started, "On the plane ride going here, I found out that there's a ball tonight. The world's most influential and richest people will be there. It's hosted by Kira Yamacho. She's one of them. Her real name is Ari Choya. She changed it a few years back so that Alice couldn't find her, but it was easy to find her real identity. Anyway, that party can be our key to finding out how they did those murders, or at least find new information to help us."

"I see…" mikan said, "So I guess we're going shopping!"

Hotaru grabs her computer and a small black box. She puts the black box on the floor and pressed the button in the middle. The box opened and it transformed to a platform.

"This," Hotaru started, "Is the latest in shopping technology. You can shop anywhere around the world whilst still being in your own home. All you have to do is pick a shop, a dress, and it'll teleport to you. This platform is so that you could try them on. Curtains open up from the side, and there are also mirrors."

"WOW!" Mikan said

"Well, let's get started then." Hotaru said, "you first Ruka."

Hours later, Ruka, Natsume, and Hotaru have all found and outfit for the party. Mikan, on the other hand, was still in the platform, looking for a dress. Hotaru walks up to the platform, and goes in through the curtain.

"well?" Hotaru asked

"I think this'll do." Mikan said. She was wearing a tube black dress that was short in front, but had a longer train at the back. It was flowy, and had sequins on the upper part.

"It looks nice, but I think I know something that'll look better on you."

…..

**2 HOURS BEFORE THE PARTY: RUKA'S ROOM**

Ruka was having a hard time with his tie when there was a knock on his door.

"Come in" Ruka said.

Ruka sees, from the view of the mirror, Hotaru enter. He looked in awe, and turned around to face her. Hotaru was wearing a sleeveless flowy navy blue long dress. It had a slit on the side, and the straps of the dress where about an inch or two wide. It was simple, mysterious, yet elegant. It matched perfectly with her short Cleopatra-like jet black hair. She also had on a beautiful silver necklace, silver heels, and a black velvet clutch bag.

"You look beautiful." Ruka said, and Hotaru blushed a little.

"Err… thanks"

Hotaru walks up to him and hold his tie

"Here, let me do that." Hotaru said, "Even till now you can't put on a necktie"

Hotaru starts fixing his necktie, focusing on it, and not looking at Ruka.

"I remember we used to do this a lot." Ruka said, "Going to parties I mean."

"Yeah I remember" Hotaru said back, still not looking at Ruka.

"Hotaru…"

"There. Done." Hotaru said quickly, "I'll wait outside." And Hotaru headed to door and left. Ruka let out a sigh

….

**2 HOURS BEFORE THE PARTY: NATSUME'S ROOM**

Natsume was already finished dressing up, and decided to read some manga while waiting. He searches around his room, and noticed that his bag full of mangas wasn't there. He steps outside his room, headed to Mikan's room, and knocked.

"Yo polka!" Natsume said, "Is my bag of mangas there? I think the bellboy put it in the wrong room."

"Huh? Oh, wait, yeah, I think it's here." Mikan said, "You can come in and get it."

Natsume opens the door, and stops in his tracks. All he could do was look at Mikan.

Mikan was wearing light pink pastel chiffon tube dress. It was tight on the top, and flowy at the bottom. It reached until her knees, and she had on light pink pumps that made her legs seem longer, and her dress a little bit shorter. Her light auburn hair was tied up, with her bangs and a few strips of hair curled in front. She also had on a set of long pearl necklaces, a ring, and she was putting on simple and small diamond earrings. Her entire outfit perfectly suited her skin and hair color. She looked so elegant and beautiful.

Mikan saw that Natsume from the reflection of the mirror. He was just standing there, and so Mikan turned around.

"What?" MIkan asked, "Does it look bad?"

"uhm.. no. You look…beautiful."

Mikan just looked at Natsume. Before she could say anything, Natsume walked over to the other side of the bedroom.

"Oh, here's my bag." Natsume said, "Go out when you're done."

And with that, Natsume walked out of her room.

_Natsume…_

Mikan looked at herself in the mirror one last time. She could hear Natsume's voice in her head.

"_You look…beautiful." _

_UGH… why are you blushing? You're over him remember? After all this is said and done, he'll disappear again like last time. It's pointless Mikan. So stop it! Focus on the mission at hand._

Mikan grabbed her purse and headed out to the living room. Everyone else was there waiting for her. Hotaru was on the phone making calls. Ruka was petting the rabbit, and Natsume, well, he was reading his manga.

"Mikan you look beautiful." Ruka said, smiling

"Thanks" Mikan replied, blushing.

Hotaru suddenly stands up, and closes her phone.

"Well, let's go then." Hotaru said

"yeah!" Mikan said, "Let's go. The AAO won't know what hit them."

* * *

**So what do you think? Good? Bad? PLEASE REVIEW! Please and thank you :D **


	7. Chapter 7: Masquerade's the Way to Go

They all arrive at a small shabby bomb shelter-like house. This was the address of the party, but that bomb shelter was the only thing there in miles. They were in the middle of nowhere, with trees surrounding the road. The place looked like something that came out of a horror movie. You know, the ones where people get stuck due to car problems and get killed one by one. Yeah, that kind, and the eerie atmosphere was there to top it all off.

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Mikan asked as she tried to prevent herself from looking scared, but her voice was a little shaky.

"Yup. This is the place." Hotaru replied

"Are you sure? We're in the middle of nowhere." Natsume said

"Parties like these are usually underground… literally. It's also to prevent any break-ins and crashers. Who would go looking for cool parties in a deserted place like this, right?" Ruka said.

"Wow." Mikan said, "How'd you know about stuff like these Ruka?"

Ruka didn't reply, instead he changed the topic,

"So, let's go in shall we." He said, and everyone nodded and stepped out of the car.

Mikan was so curious and wanted to know what was up, but she also knew how it felt like to hide something you don't wanna talk about. They all have their own secrets after all.

They all walk to the bomb shelter, and knocked on the door.

"Password?" A voice behind the door said

"Crap, there's a password." Mikan muttered under her breath. _I'll guess I gotta use my Alice for this one._

"1246" Hotaru said, and the door opened.

"How'd you know the password?" Mikan asked,

"Easy. I was invited."

"But why would the AAO invite you if they knew you were working with us?"

"Because, no one will know who's who."

"What do you mean?"

Instead of Hotaru answering Mikan's question, she stepped inside, and when Mikan followed, she understood what Hotaru meant. In front of them were masks hanging on the wall, and placed on the table. It was a masquerade ball.

"Good evening!" A woman wearing a long tan dress said, "Please get a mask and proceed inside."

They each got a mask and headed inside.

Mikan got the white feathery mask with a black outline. It was simple, yet elegant. Ruka, on the other hand, got a grey one. Half of his face was fully covered, while the other half covered only his eye. Hotaru wore the black sequined one with a huge feather on the right side, and Natsume chose the nearest mask to him. It was white on one side, and black on the other. The colors separated in a wavy line in the middle.

"So what's the plan?" Ruka asked

"Well," Mikan started, "Hotaru and Ruka, you go talk to the guests, and eavesdrop on any vital information. Natsume, go talk to the waitresses and find out everything you can about this place and it's owner. You know, the daily routines, regular guests, stuff like that. I'll walk around the rooms and pretend to look for the bathroom. Okay, everyone got it? Let's go."

They all disperse into their respective areas. Ruka and Hotaru were walking around the room when someone called Hotaru.

"Miss Hotaru!" The man called out and approached them. "And whoa, is that you Ruka?"

The man's name is Mr. Tsuri. He's a famous lawyer who loves wine, and is a little bit chubby. He has this laugh, a laugh like your weird drunk uncle would make during parties, but don't be fooled, he may love to drink, but he's very smart. He's even the tenth richest man in the world. He loved attending parties like this. He's the type who likes knowing everyone, and making small conversations with them. Ruka finds it funny, while Hotaru gets annoyed because she hates talking to people.

"Whoa, I haven't seen either of you in years!" Mr Tsuri said

"Yeah." Hotaru said, "We've been busy lately."

"Busy with the kids I see." Mr. Tsuri says teasingly. Ruka was drinking sparkling cider and almost chocked.

"K—kids?" Ruka exclaimed, "We don't have kids."

"Oh really? My bad. It's just that you were gone for quite a while, and the last time I saw Hotaru, she was running to the comfort room to barf."

Ruka stared at Hotaru.

_BARFING?_

"I just wasn't feeling well that day." Hotaru said monotonously, "Now if you excuse me, I have to go somewhere."

Hotaru took a glass of wine from the butler and headed to the balcony.

"Excuse me Mr. Tsuri" Ruka said, and started following Hotaru.

"Oh those two, always complicating their lives" Mr. Tsuri said as he watches Ruka and Hotaru heading to the balcony. He takes another glass of win and starts talking to the nearest person he sees.

Ruka finally reaches the balcony and Hotaru was there, looking at the stars, trying to distract herself.

"Hotaru…." Ruka said, "What Mr. Tsuri said…"

"It's nothing." Hotaru replied, "I was sick Ruka. Mr. Tsuri just over-reacted. You know him, always wanting a scandal."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I am. Don't be stupid Ruka. I wasn't pregnant."

"But…"

"Come on. We have to go back in there and find some clues. I'm not letting the AAO kill anyone else." And with that, Hotaru headed back inside, but not before glancing back to Ruka, "Well, aren't you coming?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in a sec." Ruka replied.

"Suit yourself."

Once Ruka was alone, he started looking at the stars. Oh how they shined so brightly, just like the engagement ring he was supposed to give Hotaru, but no one will ever know that. No one except him and…


	8. Chapter 8: Wallflower

**Here's the next chapter! Hope you all like it. Please review if you can :) It would mean a lot to me 3**

* * *

Hotaru walked back into the party and pretended as if nothing happened. She started chatting around, but kept her stoic expression. Somewhere across the room, Mikan was looking at Hotaru.

"You know you shouldn't be spying on those two." Natsume said, suddenly appearing next to her.

"I wasn't spying." Mikan replied monotonously.

"Yes you were."

"I wasn't, okay?" Mikan snapped, "And why are you even here? Shouldn't you be doing your job instead of standing here talking to me?"

"Shouldn't you?" Natsume replied. He was getting mad

"I am" Mikan said, and she walked away from him.

Mikan truly changed since she graduated. She still had that bubbly personality, and she was still ignorant when it comes to simple things, but she also grew to be more stoic. The life she lived in after graduating opened her eyes to the cruelty of reality. She tried keeping her bubbly personality, especially when it comes to talking to her students and to her friends, but somehow it was harder for her to do the same with Natsume.

Natsume always knew how to piss Mikan off. He also knew how to crack her, to show the real her, and Mikan couldn't let that happen. She couldn't let Natsume know her stoic self, the Mikan that was capable of killing. She knew that if Natsume found out, it would put him in danger, and she couldn't do that. Even after all these years, she still loved him, but she also couldn't forget what he did to her. She always remembered that memory every time she would see him. She still hasn't forgiven him for it.

As Mikan walked away from Natsume, she a man in a black suit looking suspicious. Mikan has seen him before. She was sure he was an AAO member. She started following him into the hallway until a guard came up to her.

"Exuse me miss, where do you think you're going?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was uhm... oh this is embarassing," Mikan said blushing "I was actually looking for the ladies room. I thought it was this way."

"It's on the other side miss"

"Where?" Mikan said, sounding innocent and confused.

The guard stood closer to Mikan, and started pointing directions with his hand.

"So you go this way then—ugh!" Just before the guard could continue, Mikan elbowed him on the gut.

"Now listen, you never saw me here. In fact, everytime you see me, you'll forget it ever happened." Mikan was using an alice she copied. The alice that made her capable of manipulating people just by talking to them. Then she walked away while the guy was left in a trance.

...

Meanwhile, Ruka was still pondering about what Mr. Tsuri had said. He tried to forget about it, but couldn't, so he decided to find Mr. Tsuri and to talk to him about what happened that day he saw Hotaru barfing. He finally found him talking with a crowd of people.

"Mr. Tsuri" Ruka said, but Mr. Tsuri walked away and didn't hear him.

Ruka was determined to find out what happened, and so he followed Mr. Tsuri.

"Hm.. now where did he go?" Ruka mumbled to himself.

He started walking into the hallway and looked around. Suddenly, he heard voices coming from behind the door to his right. He moved a little closer and listened.

"What do you want from me?" Mr. Tsuri asked

"Easy. We need YOU to make a party." The voice sounded like the girl who tried to kill Hotaru. Ruka's blood started to boil just by the sound of her voice.

"A party? That's it?"

"Not just any party. We want you to make the biggest party ever, and make sure to invite Hotaru Imai and Ruka Nogi."

"So all I have to do is that, and you'll help me bring down the Nagasaki Corporation?"

"Yes. Now will you do it?"

"Of course. If that's all, I better head back to the party before anyone notices that I'm gone."

"It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Tsuri."

"The pleasure is all mine"

Mr. Tsuri was heading towards the door and so Ruka turned around to hide behind the corner. As he turned around, a figure came in front of him.

"Where do you think you're going?" The figure said. He was buff like a bodyguard and had a scar across his face.

The door behind Ruka opened, and he felt someone was coming closer to him.

"Well if it isn't Ruka" A sinister voice said. Ruka immediately turned around to face the man who just spoke.

"Persona?!"

Ruka didn't know what to do next, but it didn't matter. He felt electricity run across his body, and everything turned dark.

...

On the other side of the party, Mikan was following a member of the AAO. She saw him enter a room at the far end of the corner. Mikan looked around to find a way to get in. She couldn't risk using the invisibility alice in case they had a nullifying device with them. Rumors have been going around that someone invented such a device, and Mikan couldn't risk it.

She looked around till she noticed a vent on the ceiling. She checked if the hallway was empty then flew to open the vent and went it. She could hear the voices coming from the other room and followed it. Finally, she reached another vent where you could see the entire room.

"So who's our target this time?" Patrick asked,

Patrick recently joined the AAO. He came from America, and had the banshee alice. He could scream such a high pitch noise that could destroy glass, buildings, and your ears. When you hear his scream, you turn deaf for weeks, even months. He has blond hair, blue eyes, tall, and wore glasses.

"Our target is Tanaka Yunogi. She has the alice of looking into the past of any object she touches. She could be a great asset, or a great disadvantage. We need her on our side, or eliminate her." Reo Mouri said.

Reo Mouri was still a famous singer who uses his connections to find new allies. The academy could never capture him because he knew too many important people that always bailed him out. Recently he was been busy with his singing carreer and the AAO haven't been doing much...till now.

"So what's the plan?" Patrick asked,

"She doesn't know that she has an alice. She just thinks she's seeing things. She goes to a therapist every Tuesday. That's when we strike."

_*knock knock knock* _

"Who is it?" Reo asked,

"The boy is the key" a woman behind the door replied.

"Open the door, Shido"

Shido opens the door and a beautiful woman walks in. She was wearing a gorgeous silver silk dress that hugs her body in the right places. She had short black cleopatra-like hair, and green eyes.

"Good evening Miss Nagasaki" Reo said as he bowed. The rest of the people in the room bowed as well.

"Good evening" She said as she bowed back, "Now let's get down to business."

"Would you like a drink?" Shido asked,

"A pina colada please"

"As you wish Miss Nagasaki"

Shido walked to the open bar inside the room, and started making her drink.

"Shall we?" Reo asked, as he gestured his hand towards the poker table.

Miss Nagasaki walked towards the poker table and Reo followed. Patrick started dealing the cards, while Shido gave Miss Nagasaki her drink. They started playing poker while having a conversation.

"So what is it that you need from us Miss Nagasaki?" Reo asked,

"I want you to help spy on the Tsuri Corporation. They have been our one and only competition, and if his company crumbles, we'd be the richest company in Japan. I need you and your team to find anything and everything you can about him that I can use to bring his business down to the ground"

"And what do we get in return?"

"You tell me. What can the Nagasaki Corporation do for you?"

"Well, we are coming up with a new device that enables us to track alices faster. Once it has been created, we'd like to place it in all your products."

"Deal." Miss Nagasaki said in a heartbeat, "Just help me destory the Tsuri Corporation and you can place your device on every single product we sell."

_I think I've heard all the information that I need_ Mikan thought to herself, _Now to get out of here_

Mikan slowly crawled backwards and headed back to the vent she entered in. When she reached there, she noticed two body guards standing in front of the door. Mikan knew she couldn't go down now. She couldn't risk a commotion. She thought of the only thing she could do. She grabbed her phone and started texting.

_Help me. I'm stuck in the vent above the right wing corridor. Two bodyguards are guarding the door next to the vent. –Mikan_

A few seconds later, her phone vibrated. She opened it and read the reply

_Be ready to get out of there in ten minutes._

...

Ruka woke up and felt his hands and feet tied to a chair. A group of people were standing around him, circling him, and leaving no way to escape.

"Had a nice nap?" A woman said mockingly. She was the same woman from back then. The one who tried to kill Hotaru.

"Who are you?" Ruka demanded

"You can call me Wallflower"

"I didn't know the AAO started giving its members horrible nicknames" Ruka mocked

"AAO? Puh-lease. Did you think the AAO would be capable, and let alone be smart enough, to think of the things we did? Those AAO members are amateurs. You're looking at the real thing honey."

"So what are you gonna do now? Kill me?"

"Actually...no" Persona said, "You're going to help us."

"Help you? Never!"

"Oh, you'll help. You'll help us bring the people you love to their demise, and you won't even know it." Wallflower said

"What are you talking about?"

Wallflower walked up to Ruka and injected him with a syrum, and Ruka vision started going fuzzy.

"Now Ruka, you'll forget EVERYTHING you've seen. You'll forget that you've ever seen us. All you remember is following Mr. Tsuri, but you weren't able to find him and decided to walk back to your friends. You'll also make sure you and your friends will go to Mr. Tsuri's party." Wallflower said diabolically.

"Bring him outside before the syrum stops working" Persona said.

Two men in black suits carried him outside the room.

...

A few minutes later, the entire place turned dark.

"What happened?" Someone asked,

"Don't worry ladies and gentlemen, the generator will be up in a few seconds." An employee said

Then just as he finished speaking, the lights went back on.

"Thanks for helping me out" Mikan said

"No problem." Natsume replied, "It's nice to know you still need my help"

Mikan looked at Natsume, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I guess you haven't completely changed"

"I should change that"

"Mikan, everyone needs help sometimes."

"That didn't seem to register to you, or do you not remember what happened?"

Before Natsume could reply, Hotaru walked up to both of them.

"What the hell happened?" Hotaru asked,

"I just needed an escape plan." Mikan replied

"So did you find anything?"

"Yeah, now where's Ruka?"

"There he is" Natsume pointed to the other end of the room.

They all walked over to Ruka.

"Did you guys find anything?" Ruka asked,

"Yeah, we found all the information we need." Mikan replied, "Now let's leave this place."

They all started walking to the exit, and drove back home.

"Where were you Ruka?" Mikan asked,

"I was just looking for Mr. Tsuri," Ruka said, glancing at Hotaru "But I wasn't able to find him"

"Why? Who is he?"

"No one. Just an old friend."

* * *

**So what do you think? Did you suspect that it wasn't the AAO behind it? What do you think Persona is planning? Tell me what you think via review :)**

**Also, if you have any suggestions, feel free to inbox me :) It takes me a while to get good ideas sometimes, so you're suggestions will be really helpful. I'll also credit you of course :) Thanks!**


	9. Chapter 9: Can you keep a Secret?

Back inside their hotel suite, Ruka, Mikan, Hotaru, and Natsume sat down in a circle ready to discuss the events that unfolded at the masquerade ball.

"So what did you guys find out?" Hotaru asked as she opened in laptop. She was preparing to to type down every new information they could gather.

"I was able to listen in on Nanami Nagasaki's deal with the AAO. If the AAO helps her take town Mr. Tsuri, her corporate rival, then she would place alice detectors on all her products." Mikan answered

"Mr. Tsuri. Isn't that your business associate Hotaru?" Natsume asked,

"No. Just an old aquiantance." Hotaru replied.

"But what does any of that have to do with the killings?" Natsume pointed out

"Nothing. That's just another plan of the AAO to recruit more people on their side. They didn't mention a lot about how the killings are done, but they did mention their next target, someone named Tanaka Yunogi."

"Who's that?" Ruka asked,

Hotaru started typing in Tanaka's name on the search database and read aloud, "Tanaka Yunogi is a law student in Tokyo University. Her father's the owner of a big real estate group. Tanaka's also a fashion icon, and a part time model."

"So why is she AAO's latest target?" Ruka asked,

"Because she has the touch alice. She can see the past of any object as if it were her own. She'll be able to see everything that ever happened to whatever she touches, but only in that object, or person's point of view." Mikan answered.

"Then we need to get to her first." Natsume said, "If she does have the touch alice, she could find out what happened to Anna if she touches her body. We'll be able to find out what AAO's secret weapon is."

"I'll book us a flight back to Tokyo that leaves tonight." Hotaru said

"I have a friend who works in Tokyo University" Mikan said, "I'll go give him a call."

"No need." Hotaru said, "She has a photoshoot two days from now with Reo Mouri, and since it's the weekend, we have to get to her before that photoshoot. She has an interview tomorrow for Fashion Magazine."

"We can infiltrate the building and replace the interviewer with one of us." Mikan added,

"But how are we going to get her to go with us?" Ruka asked,

"Tell her the truth." Hotaru replied,

"No we can't." Mikan said, "She isn't aware of her alice just yet, if we tell her the truth right away, it might be overwhelming for her. Either that or she'll think we're crazy. We need her to trust us first."

"And how are we going to do that?" Natsume asked,

"I dunno."

"If all else fails, I could just hit her with my baka gun until she gets knocked out." Hotaru said,

"and then what?" Mikan asked,

"We drag her to a secluded place where we can talk to her and get her on our side."

"That's kidnapping."

"What choice do we have baka? It's impossible for her to trust us within a day, and unless you want her part of AAO or dead, then we have to do it."

"Hotaru has a point. If kidnapping Tanaka means finding a way to stop the killings, then the end justifies the means." Ruka pointed out

Mikan was silent. What the rest of them doesn't know is that Mikan's been kidnap countless times. She hated the feeling of vulnerability and pain. It scarred her, and she didn't want the same to happen to Tanaka.

Natsume stood up.

"Let's just get to Tokyo first and focus on getting inside the building. We'll decide what to do once we're there." He said, breaking the silence.

Mikan was still silent, while Hotaru continued typing, and Ruka was looking at Natsume looking at Mikan.

...

The next day they entered Fashion Magazine's building with a plan. Mikan pretended to get lost and entered the computer surveillance room.

"What are you doing here?!" The guard shouted.

"I'm sorry, I got lost. I thought this was the comfort room." Mikan said looking innocent.

"Well it isn't, so get lost."

Mikan walked closer to the guard, looked into his eyes and said, "You feel really sleepy and will take a nap until I say so."

"Okay that's it, I'm calling the cops." The guard said. He obviously was not affected by the manipulation. Mikan was taken by surprise. How could he not be affected? There was only one other way to keep him down.

"I'm sorry." Mikan said right before she knocked him out. She sat him up a chair and tied him up. She took out her phone and called, "okay. I'm in the surveillance room."

Meanwhile, Natsume walked over to the front desk.

"Excuse me, I'm applying to be a model. Which floor should I go to?" He said as he gave the girl at the front said a flirty look.

"It's on the 10th floor." She said with a huge smile on her face.

"Thank you." Natsume replied. He started walking to the escalator when the girl at the front desk stopped him.

"I could walk you there if you want." She said in a flirty manner.

"Why thank you. That would be amazing."

They both went inside the elevator and got off the 10th floor.

"I heard Tanaka Yunogi is going to be in the latest issue of the magazine." Natsume said casually.

"Yeah she is! She's actually here right now getting an interview. I know everything that happens around here." The girl said, obviously trying to make a good impression.

"Oh really? That's so interesting."

"Yeah, she's actually going to be having her interview in that room." The girl said as she pointed to the room they just passed, "but of course I can't tell you when she'll be here. Anyway, here's the room where auditions are held for aspiring models."

"Thank you so much for showing me around." Natsume gave her a kiss on the cheek and the girl died and had gone to heaven. She was red all over as she walked back to the front desk.

Natsume opened his phone and texted the room number where Tanaka would have her interview. Hotaru then replied,

**Good. Just stay there until we're done. **

Natsume texted back

**Hn. No way am I staying here in this casting. **

Hotaru replied,

**Just do it. Or I'll hit you with my baka gun. Let's see your pretty face after that.**

**FINE. **Natsume texted, giving up.

Back to the room where the interview would take place, Ruka and Hotaru were standing just outside the room. Hotaru walked inside, while Ruka stayed outside the door to keep watch. Inside the room, Hotaru hacked into the company's system and changed the date and time of the interview so as to keep the interviewer from catching them.

A few minutes later Tanaka Yunogi was in the 10th floor and was greeted by Ruka. He opened the door for her as she entered to meet Hotaru. Ruka texted mikan.

**Tanaka's here. Everything is set.**

...

In the surveillance room, Mikan was looking through the cameras and suddenly spotted something peculiar. There were five people suspiciously walking to the 10th floor and heading the room where Hotaru and Tanaka were.

"Shit!" Mikan cursed and she ran out the room and headed to the 10th floor as well. She didn't teleport because she couldn't risk anyone noticing her on the off chance her alice wouldn't affect them as well. While running she took out her phone and called Ruka, "Ruka, AAO sent five men and they're heading your way!"

By the time Mikan arrived, the five men were already fighting Ruka. One of them spotted her and lunged at her. She threw him off just in time to punch the gut of the second man attacking her. One of the men had the teleportation alice and teleported behind Mikan to grab her. The other man used his alice to send Mikan frequency waves untolerable to man. Mikan screamed.

Natsume heard the faint scream coming from the outside. No matter how faint it was, he knew it was Mikan's. He asked to go to the comfort room, then ran outside to see the fighting going on. He used his alice to set the suit of the man hurting Mikan on fire. He jumped in pain and got too distracted to keep Mikan in a state of frequency pain.

Mikan tried to take a swing on the man that was holding her, but he teleported just before she could. He teleported to Natsume who was trying to throw fire balls at him, but continuously miss.

On the other hand, Ruka was also having a hard time. His enemies were strong, and with no animals in the premise, his alice was useless. Mikan ran to help him out. She took them down, but they keep going back up. They were all powerful. Mikan knew that if this kept us, they would lose. She then knew what she had to do.

She ran to Natsume and the man with the teleportation alice. She focused all her energy and managed to throw a ball of light on the man. It hit him and he vanished.

"Where'd you take him?" Natsume asked,

"No time for that." Mikan replied, and handed him a stone. "here, take this. Use it to teleport all of you. I'll follow up."

"No."

"What?"

"I'm not leaving."

"Now is not the time, just go!"

Natsume hesitated, but ran to where Hotaru was. He told Ruka what Mikan told her, but Ruka didn't want to leave Mikan behind.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of her." Ruka said

"Thank you." Natsume said before barging in the room, "We have to go. AAO is here."

"What? What's going on?" Tanaka asked worridly.

"We have to go now. I have a teleportation alice stone." Natsume said,

"What's an alice? Someone tell me what's going on!"

"We have to go or else you'll be killed." Hotaru said frankly, "now come on!" She grabbed tanaka's hand and then held Natsume's, "Wait, where's Mikan and Ruka?"

"They're outside stalling."

"But—" before Hotaru could finish her sentence, they were transported out of the building.

...

Meanwhile outside the door, Mikan already got rid of four men. Her body was weakening, but there was only one more guy left. She knew she could still manage to get rid of him too. She focused her energy once more and BOOM! It hit the last of AAO's croonies, and the hallways was quiet and peaceful once more. Mikan's body was too weak, and she crashed down on the floor.

"MIKAN!" Ruka ran to Mikan, "What's happening?"

"Bring me inside the room." Mikan said softly. She was breathing heavily. "We can't affort to let anyone see us."

Ruka did what Mikan asked and carried her to the room. Once they were inside, he opened one of the bottled waters set on the table and gave it to Mikan. As Mikan drank the water, all Ruka could do was watch. As he looked at Mikan, he could tell she was in the same state Natsume was in when he overused his alice.

"You lied, didn't you" Ruka said after taking a seat. Mikan didn't say anything. "Why? Why lie about your state Mikan? You could have died!"

"Okay okay. The truth is... the effects of using my alice is like that of Natsume's, but the difference is that it only affects by body by a small amount, but with all the alices I use everyday, especially on missions, it's taking a toll on my body. I take this medication that enables my body to regenerate and take car of the side effects of overusing my alice."

"Is that medication enough?"

"Sadly no. It can help me, but it takes time to do so. If I overuse my alice at one instance and it's too much for me—"

"You could die."

"Yes."

"So why do it?"

"Because... I've spent years trying to make Alice Academy and the people in it happy. I got them to let parents in, and to allow the students to go out, but the price for that is to ensure complete safety. That means I have to stop a potential threats all the time. I want those kids to have the life I never had. To enjoy their time with their family while inside the academy. I don't want them finally graduating, only to find out they had only a few years to spend with a loved one before he dies."

"Wait, are you saying—"

"After graduation I went straight to my grandpa and my parents were there. We were happy. Then a year or two later my parents disappeared. They said they needed to leave to keep me safe. I never saw them again. A few years after that my grandpa died. I felt so terrible that I didn't get to spend as much time with him because of a stupid rule."

"Mikan, I'm sorry about what happened to you, but you can't be so willing to lose your life. You have to want to live it too, to experience living, and not just dying for others. If you died, all the people who love you will be sad, and you should be too. If you do, you'll look back at your life and see that all you ever did was prepare for death. Mikan, if we knew that-"

"Don't. Please don't tell anyone."

"but—"

"Ruka I kept your secret. The least you can do is to keep mine."

"Okay I will, but this is a secret I wish I didn't have to keep. They deserve to know."

"That's my decision Ruka, not yours. I'll tell them when the time is right, or never."


	10. Chapter 10: Feelings change

Ruka and Mikan teleported to Hotaru's private mansion where Hotaru and Natsume were waiting for them. The mansion was located in Hotaru's private island which was located in a secluded part of the world, miles from civilization. It was the best place to hide for the island isn't found on any map.

"We're back!" Mikan announced while trying to sound chipper.

Natsume and Hotaru were in the TV room. When Mikan and Ruka entered the room, Hotaru was typing something on her laptop, while Natsume was on the couch watching TV.

"Hn. Don't you ever get tired of being annoying?" Natsume commented while continuing to watch TV.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny." Mikan said sarcastically,

"What happened back there anyway?" Hotaru asked with pure curiousity, not even having a hint of worry in her voice.

"AAO sent five men to take Tanaka so Ruka and I stalled them while you—" Before Mikan could finish, Natsume interrupted her.

"She didn't mean that stupid. She meant the balls of light you used to make them disappear."

"They didn't disappear. They just got teleported to a remote part of the desert."

"I didn't know you could use a teleportation alice to teleport someone without you going with them." Hotaru said,

"You can." Mikan replied, "It just takes practice. Oh, by the way, where's Tanaka Yunogi?"

"She's in the cellar" Hotaru answered monotonously.

"WHAATT?" Mikan exclaimed, "Why did you put her there?"

"She was trying to escape." Hotaru said matter-of-factly.

"She could get emotionally scarred Hotaru!"

"She'll get over it. Plus, what else were we supposed to do, babysit her until she stops being a baby about this? We've got more important things to take care of."

"How could you be so calm about this?" Mikan was slowly getting mad. If there's one thing that ticks her off, it's making an innocent person feel scared and trapped. "Hotaru how could you be so heartless?"

Before Mikan could stop herself, those words alread escaped her mouth. A second later she realized how horrible it was of her to say that. "Hotaru I—"

"No. You're right. I am heartless, but I get things done."

"I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Why not? Let's face it Mikan we're too different. We're not friends. We haven't been for years." Hotaru said it so monotonously, but Mikan and Ruka knew her well enough to know that she was pissed. "Now, if you'll excuse me I have business calls to make. I'm not gonna stop earning money just because of this mission. As for Tanaka, don't worry I won't go near her. Do whatever you want."

Hotaru grabbed her laptop and walked out the room. Mikan tried to follow her, but Ruka stopped her.

"Let her go Mikan." Ruka said, "The more you go to her now, the more walls she'll build up around her. Let her cool off first."

_RINGGGGG_

Mikan took out her phone and left the room before answering her phone.

"Hello?" Mikan said

"Mikan we need you to go back to the academy. No one can control the DA class like you can. Is there any way you could go back here whilst taking on that mission?"

"What about Persona?"

"He's still not back. We've tried contacting him, but to no avail."

"Okay. I'll be before my first class starts."

"Thank you so much Mikan!"

"So you're going back to Alice Academy huh?" Natsume said. Mikan turned around and saw him standing by the door.

"Even until now you still like listening into other people's conversations." Mikan replied, "And yes I am going back. I think it's better if I'm gone for a while."

"At least this place will be quiet for a while without your loud screeching voice." Natsume said. Mikan stayed silent and started packing her things. "Don't worry polka, you guys will patch things up."

"Hotaru's right." Mikan said before sitting down on the bed, "After graduation things changed. We all grew apart. It was stupid of me to think things will go back to the way it was."

Natsume walked to Mikan and sat beside her. "Time may have kept you two apart, but that's not enough to forget the kind of friendship you two had."

"Well what about you and Ruka? You two have been so distant and stoic with each other."

"You're not as dense as you were."

"Time changes people."

"But I'd hate it if time took away that bubbly, annoying Mikan back in High School."

"Why? You said it yourself, I was annoying."

"You were, but this depressed, pessimistic, and serious Mikan is more annoying. So cheer up, okay?"

"That wasn't exactly the best pep talk ever, but thanks. Since when did you have a heart?"

"Hn. Don't get too used to it. I just don't want your crying getting in the way of my sleep."

Mikan didn't even think about it, but she suddenly just gave Natsume a hug. Natsume was taken by surprise, but hugged her back anyway. For that brief moment all the sadness went away and a moment of pure happiness and bliss took over. It didn't take long though for both of thm to realize what they were doing and let go. Natsume left Mikan to finish her packing, but as he left he couldn't help but feel something at the pit of his stomach. The same feeling he had when he said goodbye to Mikan on graduation.

...

Ruka entered Hotaru's laboratory where she saw Hotaru working on her latest invention. He walked closer to where Hotaru was standing and touched her shoulder.

"It's late. You should go and rest" Ruka said,

"I'm fine." Hotaru replied as she continued working on her invention.

"Come on Hotaru, it's not good for you to have so little sleep especially with this mission going on"

"I said I'm fine. I've focused too much into this mission that I forgot about my work, so I need to catch up."

"What happened to you?" Ruka asked, "After graduation you started opening up to me. You smiled more often, and you actually had fun. Then one day you just stopped and put up all this walls around you again."

"Because... feelings get in the way of success"

"_Feelings _are what make us humans. We're not robots. We were meant to love and be loved. Success isn't just about the money, it's about more than that."

Hotaru kept silent and continued working as if Ruka weren't there. Ruka gave up and started walking to the door. He stopped right in front of the door and turned to face Hotaru.

"I'm not giving up you know. I know that sweet, and caring girl is still in there somewhere." Ruka said, then he opened the door. "By the way, Mikan's gone. She's in Alice Academy. She'll be back in a few days."

When Ruka finally left the lab, Hotaru tried continuing her work, but eventually she was too distracted. She pushed all her equipment off the table, placed her hands on her face and just cried.

...

Back in Alice Academy, Mikan arrived late at night, tired. She decided to check up on Kazame before going to bed. When she knocked on Kazame's door, he opened it and Mikan saw his eyes were full of eye bags from what looks like a lack of sleep.

"Hi Mikan-sensei" Kazame said lifelessly, "May I please sleep in your room tonight?"

Mikan couldn't help but feel so bad for Kazame. She agreed and held his hand as they walked to her room.

...

**3 Days later**

Mikan just dismissed her DA class and was using her alice to fix the broken tables and chairs.

"Hello Mikan." Persona said. Mikan turned around to see Persona standing by the door.

Ever since Persona's plans of giving DA students unauthorized missions that were too dangerous for them were discovered, he was captured and brought to a secret medical facility in Alice Academy US. He was injected with a serum that would remove his urges to kill. After that he was put into probation and eventually allowed to teach again in the academy after the faculty made sure the serom worked on him. He was actually one of the people who stopped AAO, and now AAO is only a minimal threat to the academy till Anna'a murder occured.

Persona's alice has also been decreasing because of his age. He overused his alice back when Mikan was still in High School and now he can only do half as much with his alice, but of course, that half is enough to make him a feared terror teacher especially to the DA students.

"Persona you're back!" Mikan exclaimed. "Could you do me a favor?"

"You want me to take over your classes while you're on a mission right?"

"Yeah. It's taking longer to find AAO's secret weapon."

"How's your health?"

"It's fine. I've been overdoing it for the past few days from all the fighting, but I'm heading to the clinic right now to get some pills to restore my health"

"No need. I thought you'd be overusing your alice again and so I got them for you." Persona handed Mikan a small clear box full of pills. "Here."

"Thanks Persona!"

A few hours later, Mikan teleported back to Hotaru's mansion. When she arrived, everyone was having lunch except for Hotaru. Ruka saw Mikan and immediately went up to her.

"Mikan welcome back." Ruka said, giving Mikan a hug.

"Where's Hotaru?" Mikan asked,

"Still working." Ruka said. It was short and straight to the point. Mikan knew well enough not to ask any further questions.

On the corner of Mikan's eye, she saw Natsume eating with Tanak as they talked. They seemed to be so engaged into a conversation. Ruka noticed Mikan looking at Natsume.

"Natsume and Tanaka have been getting along surprisingly well."

"I see..."

Mikan couldn't help but feel a pang of pain in her heart. Just looking at Natsume and Tanaka talking reminded her of what used to be with her and Natsume. She secretly hoped that things would eventually fall back to the way things were, but after that fight with Hotaru and now seeing this, she couldn't help but feel sad. Deep down inside Mikan knew she's still in love with Natsume, but does she really want to hope that he has feelings for her too?

"I'll go and put my bags in my room." Mikan said,

"I'll help you" Ruka said

"No it's okay. I can do it."

Ruka could sense that Mikan wanted time alone, and so he gave it to her. As Mikan walked to her room, she couldn't help but hate herself for being so affected by this. Maybe after all those years of suppressing her feelings, it was finally all coming out.


	11. Chapter 11: Under the Oak tree

**DISCLAIMER: THE SCIENTIFIC STATEMENTS SAID IN THIS CHAPTER IS BY NO MEANS REAL. THIS IS ONLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE STORY AND IS PURELY FICTIONAL.**

* * *

Mikan was looking through research files when a knock came from the other side of her door. A robot servant entered and informed Mikan that dinner was ready.

"Okay thank you!" Mikan replied with a smile on her face.

She placed the files back on her desk and walked down to the dining room. As she entered she noticed that everyone was there except for Hotaru. Tanaka saw Mikan enter the room and immediately stood up to greet her.

"You must be Mikan. It's nice to finally meet you. " She said quite professionally and held out her hand. Mikan shook it, noticing Tanaka's tight grip.

Hotaru finally arrived, and everyone sat down to eat. The robot servants served them appetizers first. Dinner at Hotaru's is like eating dinner in a fancy restaurant. There are six courses, each being served by a robot servant. After a couple of weeks together, everyone seemed to be used to it by now, but Mikan still gets amazed every time the food gets served. Her eyes widen as she happily eats the food.

"Hn. Stop smiling, it's just food." Natsume said

Mikan stuck out her tongue at Natsume. "Whatever Natsume. I'm happy with the little things in life, what's so wrong with that?"

"It's annoying."

"You're annoying." Mikan replied trying to mimic Natsume's voice

"At least I know how to dress my age, polka."

"AHH! Pervert!"

"Hn. Don't flatter yourself. Learn how to stop sitting with your legs open polka"

Tanaka seemed to be containing her laigher. Mikan looked down, and immediately closed her legs tight together in embarrassment.

"Okay..." Ruka said, finally putting a stop to the argument, "So Mikan, will you be needing to head back to the Academy any time soon?"

"Nope," Mikan replied, "Persona's back and he'll be in charge of my class until I return."

"I still don't trust him." Natsume muttered.

"Persona's good now. He's been taking his medications, and he gets a monthly check up to make sure he has medication in his system. He even helped bring down some threats. We can trust him."

"Well I still don't."

There was an eerie silence in the room until Ruka broke it.

"So tomorrow we'll go to the morgue and check out Anna's body." Ruka said, "Are you ready Tanaka?"

"I am." Tanaka replied, "Let's find out who did this."

...

The next day Mikan teleported all of them to the Alice Mourge where Anna's body is being kept. When they arrived there the place was filled with Alice security. With Tanaka being there, they couldn't risk her being taken by the AAO.

Tanaka walked towards Anna's dead body and touched her hand.

"Well?" Hotaru asked,

"Nothing. I didn't see anything." Tanaka replied

"How is that possible?" Ruka asked,

"I'm guessing that Tanaka's alice taps into a person's memory in order to see everything that person has seen," Hotaru said, "And since Anna's brain isn't active anymore, she cannot trigger the memories."

"Then what about the heart?" Mikan asked, "The brain may be inactive, but the heart would still be active until now. It will be faint, but still active. The heart may not hold memories, but it's worth a shot."

"Hey scientist dude, where's the brain?" Natsume asked,

"It's in the other room." He replied, "I'll go get it."

A few minutes later the scientist came back with a box. He opened it, and inside was Anna's heart. Tanaka held it with both hands then suddenly started screaming in pain. She dropped the heart and her knees gave up as she fell to the floor, still screeching in pain. She was grabbing her shirt in the same way someone with a heart attack would. After a few minutes she started breathing normally again, and the pain was gone.

Mikan walked over to where Tanaka was sitting, and handed her a glass of water.

"Here. This will help you feel better." Mikan said,

"What happened?" Ruka exclaimed,

"I didn't see Anna's memories." Tanaka started, "But I did feel them. All those emotions up until the moment she died. I've felt them all as if it were happening to me."

"Interesting." Hotaru murmured. In spite of everything, she still remained calm and monotone.

"So what now?" Natsume asked,

"We should all go back to Hotaru's" Mikan answered, "Let's give Tanaka time to rest, and we can work up a plan later."

And so they did. They all held hands and teleported back to Hotaru's mansion.

...

That afternoon Natsume decided to read his manga to keep his mind off things for a while. He walked to his favorite spot in Hotaru's island, a big oak tree with a view of the ocean. When he got there he was surprised to see that there was already someone who was reading on his favorite spot.

"That's my spot. Get out." Natsume said,

"I was here first." Tanaka replied, "Find another spot."

"Or I could just burn your hair."

"Oh please. I'm not scared of you."

"You should be."

Tanaka sighed with annoyance and looked at Natsume. She noticed the manga that he was holding.

"You read Blood Plus?" Tanaka asked,

"Yeah. You know it?" Natsume asked. Tanaka held out the manga she was reading and it was the same manga that Natsume had, only a different volume.

"If you want we could just share the spot."

"Hn." Natsume replied, and climbed up and sat on top of a thick branch while Tanaka stayed sitting under the oak tree. They continued on with their reading in a peaceful silence.

...

After Natsume finished reading, he headed back to his room and made a phone call.

"She's more powerful than I thought, but also very stupid." Natsume replied to the voice on the other line. "Yes I'll keep an eye on her...Have you found her yet?... Tsk. I'm not stupid. I won't blow my cover"

"Good." The person on the other line spoke, "Because they can't know what you're really up to."


	12. Chapter 12: It Was Only Just a Dream

_Mikan was running through a dark alley in search of someone. She saw a shadow zoom by in front of her._

"_HEY COME BACK HERE!" Mikan shouted and started running after him._

_As she ran she hit a dead end, and she used her alice to teleport herself to the top of the building. She could see the person she was chasing. He was just a few feet away. She teleported herself right next to him. He seemed to have seen that coming and punch Mikan in the gut the moment she teleported herself there. She kicked him on the shin, but he elbowed her. _

_They kept fighting and fighting, but Mikan started feeling tired. She felt her body slowly giving up on her. The guy pushed her to the ground before saying,_

"_Seems like your Alice is finally catching up to you." He gave an evil grin and started running._

_Mikan wasn't going down just like that. She stood up as fast as she could while clutching her shirt right where her heart was. She could feel her heart beating too fast. Nevertheless, she saw the man jumping to the building right next to where she stood. She teleported herself there. She was looking at him straight in the eye._

"_Just give up Mikan."_

"_Never. I'd rather die."_

"_That won't be a problem." The man said, and grabbed Mikan's heart. His fist went through her body and Mikan could feel his hand around her fragile heart. He took it right from Mikan's chest and all Mikan could do was stare. He gave a slight push and Mikan fell down from the top of the building. _

_As Mikan died she started seeing everythin from a third person point of view, like a spirit who finally let their mortal bodies. She could see her body lying. Dead. _

_She heard footsteps coming from the corner. It was Ruka. His eyes widened as he realized who the dead body was. He ran to Mikan's body, but just before he could touch her, Hotaru showed up._

"_Have you found Mi-" Before Hotaru could finish her statement, she noticed the dead body in front of Ruka. She walked slowly, as if she were a zombie and just stared blankly at the body, "Oh my God..."_

_They just stood there for a while until Natsume finally showed up. He saw Mikan's dead body and immediately hugged it. Mikan's spirit could see Natsume's eyes glistening from the tears that were about to fall. _

_Then suddenly the scene changed. Mikan's spirit found herself in a dark room. She started walking around and found Natsume and Tanaka dressed in all black._

"_I can't believe she's dead." Natsume said sadly,_

"_I know, but you can't keep holding on to the past. There are people alive who are here and love you just as much as she did, maybe even more."Tanaka said,_

_Natsume just looked at Tanaka, and suddely kissed her. Their kissed deepened, and Mikan's spirit couldn't help but shout. No one could hear her though. She just continued to scream as Natsume and Tanaka kept kissing. _

"_NOOOOOO"_

Mikan woke up and immediately sat up. She was panting, and her body was sweaty. Her breathing was in gasps, as she put her hand on her chest, feeling her heart beat.

...

A few hours later the sun was up, and Mikan went straight to the gym. As she practiced on the punching bag, she had flashes of the dream she had. She then punched the punching bag harder than she wanted to, and it ended up breaking. Suddenly the door opened. Mikan looked to see who was coming inside. It was Tanaka.

"Oh, good morning." Tanaka said

"Morning." Mikan replied. She couldn't help but feel a slight annoyance at Tanaka. "You're training too?"

"Uh, yeah I guess. Natsume offered to give me some lessons."

Just then Natsume entered.

"Are you ready to train?" Natsume asked Tanaka, not even awknowledging Mikan's presence.

Mikan grabbed her bag, and headed to the door.

"You're already done?" Tanaka asked,

"Yeah." Mikan replied, "I think I'll go for a jog first."

As she left the gym, she couldn't help but take once last look before closing the door. Natsume was teaching Tanaka the basic moves of self-defence. They seemed to be getting along, and Mikan hated the fact that she was so affected by this.

Mikan ended up jogging around the island, but after a few minutes she was panting too much and stopped for a break. Her body has been getting weaker lately and the doses of medicine didn't seem to work on her as fast anymore. She was getting tired more easily, and that wasn't a good sign. She couldn't afford to be weak right now, not when there's this mystery she had to solve. As she drank her water, she heard a noise coming from the forest.

_Maybe it's just an animal _

She couldn't risk it though. She ran back to the mansion, straight into the security room and checked. No one was there except for a few animals, so it was probably just an animal. She grabbed her phone and called the Academy.

"Why hello Mikan" Persona said

"Hey Persona. Could you send me more pills?"

"I gave you a whole pack. Have you finished them already?"

"It seems that my body isn't recovering as fast as it used to, so I need another pack."

"But Mikan I must warn you that taking too much might be dangerous."

"It won't be. It's for body recovery. I'll be fine."

"If you say you. I'll have them sent right away."

"Okay thanks Persona"

"No problem." And then Mikan ended the call.

...

"Wow Persona. Who knew you'd have an knack for acting." Wallflower said.

"Well I do have many hidden talents." Persona replied,

"So what exactly is in those pills you're giving Mikan?"

"It's a pill that makes her alice twice as strong, but is also causing her to weaken twice as fast. Eventually she'll overuse her Alice, and die."

"Awww did you hear that?" Wallflower said as she caressed the face of Mikan's mom. "Your going to see your daughter die right before your eyes."

Mikan's mom spat at Wallflower. "WHY YOU LITTLE-"

_SLAP! _

...

"Have you found her yet?"

"No we haven't Sir."

"Keep looking! We have to know where she is, and who took her, so I can kick their asses."

"Yes Sir."

"Please do your best. I have to find my wife."

...

Back in Hotaru's room, her laptop started beeping. She opened it and saw an invitation to a grand ball. Just then a someone knocked at her door, "Come in."

"Here I brought you some coffee. It has cinnamon just the way you like it." Ruka said and placed the coffee on her table.

"You don't have to keep doing this you know."

"I know, but I want to."

"Thanks." Hotaru said quietly, but Ruka was able to hear it.

"What's that?"

"An invitation to some grand ball hosted by Mr. Tsuri."

"We should go."

"Why?"

"Because, all the top notch business people will be there. You said your business was slipping right? Then this is your oppurtunity to sell your new inventions."

"We have a mission to do, moron."

"It's just one night." Ruka said, "What could go wrong?"

* * *

BTW in case you guys don't remember, Wallflower is the name of the girl kidnapped and tortured Hotaru.


End file.
